Shellter Chat
by Bridgetinerabbit
Summary: A peek inside Adrien's schoolbag gives Nino unexpected insight as to what makes his friend tick. He never expected to strike a deal with a tiny cat god, but now he and Plagg are working together to relieve some of Adrien's burdens for his own good. But being Adrien's guardian angel isn't easy: other secret identities start shattering, and nobody knows where the dominoes will stop.
1. Chapter 1

Adrien's hands were sweaty. He was thankful he hadn't eaten yet. Try as he might to relax, he usually got anxious about three hours before an appointment. However, because this time his appointment with his father was before school, he only had the last half hour to cram in all that anxiety. He hated morning appointments, but when he scheduled it three days ago, it was the earliest moment that didn't conflict with either of their schedules.

_Here goes nothing._ Adrien knocked on his father's atelier door at the appointed time. "Come in," Gabriel responded from the other side. Adrien took a deep breath and pushed the door open. As he walked up to Gabriel, who was standing at his monitor, the man tore his scowl away from his screen to look up at his son. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and laced his fingers on his desk in front of him. "So, Adrien, what's this about."

_Eye contact. No fidgeting. Get to the point. "_I'd like to be allowed to have Nino over sometimes, sir. After school, maybe. If that goes well, maybe on weekends and the occasional sleep over."

Gabriel lifted an eyebrow at his son. "Nino? We discussed that some time ago. He's a bad influence."

_Don't flinch. _"Well, that was some time ago, and you hired him yourself for the fashion show. I know you wouldn't have done that if you felt he wasn't responsible."

Gabriel pursed his lips and paused a moment. He inhaled deeply and said, "I'll admit I didn't see who the contract went to until the event was almost upon us, only that the DJ had come highly recommended."

Adrien dared a small smile. "And how did he do?"

Gabriel cocked his head. "Well, I don't usually receive reports about the DJ booth unless there are mistakes, but Nathalie did not make any note of errors." He paused another moment, then turned to his monitor and busied himself with something on it. Adrien tried not to feel a moment of disappointment, but Gabriel continued. "Nathalie's itinerary checklist for the event indicates that he was punctual, there were no mishaps, and he cleared his station away efficiently after the event." Adrien knew this. Nathalie indulged him when he asked her to see her notes for the show.

_So far, so good. _Adrien pressed, "Considering the upheaval during the show, I'd say that is fairly impressive. So, he runs a business on his own that receives rave reviews, and you have your own observations on how professionally he handles himself."

"How are his grades?"

"His grades are As and Bs, which meet his family's expectations." Adrien spent all yesterday afternoon trying to compose that sentence to not sound like a complaint about his own expected grades.

Gabriel was silent for several moments, then cleared his throat. "We can try on a probationary basis. If your behavior becomes undesirable, or if he gives me so much as a bad feeling, this experiment is over. One day a week, as your schedule allows, and we'll see how it goes from there."

Adrien felt giddy and he could feel the strain in his cheeks from his smile. "Thank you, Father! We will absolutely be on our best behavior. I promise you won't regret it!"

"I hope that I don't. Adrien, there is something else I needed to talk to you about. The ad campaign for the new line will begin in three weeks."

Adrien felt his pulse quicken. "Three weeks? My midterms are the following week."

"Then I suggest you spend a little extra effort on your studies in the meantime. Unless adhering to your public school schedule and keeping up with your duties for Gabriel is too difficult?"

"Not at all, sir. I'll be sure to stay on top of it." Adrien was keeping up as usual, but they hadn't yet covered all the material that was going to be on his exams. He could probably review a couple chapters ahead. Still, though, that was going to be time consuming. The last ad campaign took him out of school most of a week and a half.

He glanced at the clock and saw that he still had ten minutes left in his appointment and his mood lifted. "Since we still have a little time, do you want to hear about my science fair project?"

Gabriel's lip twitched upward. "Enlighten me."

"I'm doing it on the Bernoulli principle. I'm going to make cross sections of wings called airfoils out of styrofoam, and I'm going to put them on vertical tracks so that when a moderately strong fan is pointed at it, the foils should lift." He excitedly lifted an imaginary airfoil with his hand. "I'm hoping to make several that vary in shape and attach weights to them so we can see what the optimal shape is to create the most lift, and what shapes might create too much drag, and so on." He shifted slightly on his feet. "I haven't quite decided what to use as weights or how to attach them. Maybe put a little hook under there and hang a little cup for weights, or something." He glanced up at his father. "I'm sure I'll figure something out. That part won't be hard." Adrien ran out of steam as Gabriel watched him, then waited to see what he might say.

Gabriel nodded and spoke with an even measured tone. "That does sound intriguing. Be sure to run the visual aids by Nathalie for inspection before it sees the science fair floor."

Adrien nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yeah, absolutely!" He glanced at the clock and saw that their meeting was almost over. "If I send Nathalie the science fair information, do you think you can see if you can make it?"

"I'll look into it. Now I believe you need to head down to the car to get to school."

"Yes! Thank you! Have a great day, Father!"

"You as well, Adrien."

Adrien left the atelier, carefully closed the door, and practically floated down to the garage and his waiting bodyguard.

—

Adrien told Nino three days ago that he booked the appointment with his father for today. Adrien told Nino what the appointment was about, but Nino remembered too vividly what Gabriel thought of Nino as his son's friend. He was not holding his breath. Actually, he was holding his breath because he was not looking forward to seeing Adrien's disappointed face when he got to school. Adrien hadn't mentioned the appointment since he initially told him, but he could tell by his friend's demeanor over the last couple of days he was getting increasingly more nervous. So he waited with Alya for the school day to begin and to find out the verdict. When Adrien's sedan pulled up to the front of the school, to Nino's surprise, Adrien threw himself out the door and up the steps, making a beeline up to the two of them, full of energy.

Nino staggered back slightly when Adrien tackled him into a hug. "Oof. I take it the appointment went well?" Nino chuckled.

Adrien pulled back and held Nino's shoulders at arms length. "_So_ well!" Nino grinned at his excited friend, while he began pacing as he explained to both of them. "You can come over once a week, if there's a clear spot on my schedule, on a probationary basis. We have to be very careful because he said he could change his mind at any time if he decides he doesn't like it, so it wouldn't take much for him to take it back."

"Dude! That's awesome! At least it's a start! We will absolutely be on our best behavior. I'm not going to give him any reason to back out of this. We got this."

Alya gestured to the other students who were beginning to shuffle into the school, and the three of them started in that direction while they talked. "That's great, Adrien! When's the inaugural sanctioned visit going to be?"

"I don't know yet. Later we can look at my schedule and see if we can find a couple slots, and run them by Nathalie." He looked back and forth between the two of them. "Guys, this was the best appointment I've had in a long time. Maybe ever. I've been preparing for weeks. I just went in and gave my argument, and I felt like I presented myself well. My points were clear and solid, and since I referenced Nathalie's report he was able to look up the evidence for himself and it was all smooth sailing from there!" Adrien beamed. "He didn't even seem annoyed! I kind of got the impression he might have been a little proud of how I handled myself. I even had ten minutes left so I could tell him about the science project, and he called it _intriguing_." The three of them filed into the mostly full classroom and took their seats. Adrien set his bag down on the seat next to him. "Also, when I asked him if he could come to the science fair, he said he would look into it. I'm pretty sure he was smiling a bit, so I feel like there's a chance!" Adrien propped his head on his hand and sighed. "Today is turning out to be such a good day." He glanced at the clock. "Oh, dang it. I should run to the restroom before class begins. I'll be right back." With that he left his bag in his seat and darted through the door.

Nino sat in the sudden silence a bit stunned.

Alya leaned close to Nino and hissed in his ear, "That is so messed up how excited he is. 'Didn't even seem annoyed?' 'May have been smiling a bit?' 'Ten minutes to tell him about his _science project?'_"

Nino leaned back closer to her. "You are preaching to the choir. You should hear about the appointments that don't go well."

Alya's desk creaked as she leaned back and breathed deeply and deliberately. He was familiar with that habit: it meant that she was trying to let something go. It wasn't something that came naturally to her. "I'm going to continue ignoring the fact that he has to _make an appointment_ to talk to his dad in the first place. Keep me posted on those visits, okay?"

Nino turned and grinned at her. "Hey, this is guy time, which is extra sacred because it's Adrien's guy time. I'm not sure he's ever really had any."

Alya leaned in close again and smacked him lightly on the back of the head. "I mean I worry about that boy, you have to tell me if anything comes up, or something happens that's… disconcerting."

Nino chuckled lightly and shook his head. "I know. I won't keep you in the dark." The weight of Adrien's bag apparently shifted, making the bag slump over. Nino pushed the bag back upright so nothing would accidentally spill out.

A moment later they heard a crash of books and a squeak just outside the doorway, followed by Marinette's voice. "Oh gosh! I'm so sorry Adrien! I wasn't going where I was looking and I need to make it to time on class!" Adrien and Marinette both came in through the doorway while Adrien handed her some books, and Marinette looked like she had a sunburn.

As they both took their seats Adrien said cheerily, "Don't worry, Marinette. You'd have to work harder than that to ruin my day!"

She was quiet about it, but Nino still heard Alya snort softly.

—

It was Wednesday and the school day had been long, and Nino was so done with class, but there were still 15 minutes left before it was done with him. Today would be the first visit since Mr. Agreste agreed that Nino would get to go to his friend's house after school. At the tail end of the school day, his brain was far too spent to be calculating pressure for the physics test. _Just two more problems left. _He looked to his right and glanced at Adrien.

He had leaned back with his arms crossed tightly over his chest. His knee was bouncing and he looked like he was trying to stare a hole into the chalkboard.

_Of course he's already done. _He was excited, but also nervous, which made it difficult to concentrate on these last two problems.

"Eyes on your own tablet, Ms. Bourgois." Ms. Mendeleiev snapped. The bench across the aisle creaked as Chloe huffed irritably.

_Just one left. Oh hey, this one's not so bad. _Nino selected his answer by the process of elimination. _And, done! _With a couple of taps, he submitted his test and was free to wait. Quietly. For another 8 minutes. _We'll definitely be doing homework first thing. I need to make a good impression. With any luck we can make this a regular thing, and then Adrien might have an ally at that big empty house sometimes. Would Mr. Agreste be actively looking for reasons to kick me out? _With that thought, he realized he had assumed the same posture as Adrien. His eyes unfocused from the blank chalkboard. After a quick glance at Ms. Mendeleiev, who was busying herself with her own tablet, Nino risked a look at the other students. Most were done. Kim was hunched over his tablet with his head in his hand. Rose was staring at her tablet and tapping her chin. There were a couple of others actively working. Ivan looked like he was sleeping. Marinette… Marinette was slowly inching forward and staring intently at Adrien's hair. She seemed to notice Nino looking at her and made eye contact with him. He raised an eyebrow and her face pinked. Then she sat back in her chair and put her hands in her lap. Nino turned back to the front and chuckled to himself. _I wonder if she even realized she was doing that. Poor girl is hopeless._

"Two more minutes before the tests auto-submits whatever you have," their teacher called out.

Adrien sighed deeply next to him, and his leg started bouncing more furiously.

If Nino was a little nervous, he knew that Adrien was really tense. Nino tapped his friend's elbow. When Adrien looked at him, Nino raised his eyebrows questioningly. _You okay? _

Adrien uncrossed his arms and sat up a little. He nodded and gave a small smile.

"Time's up. I hope all of you were able to finish. Tomorrow and Friday we'll be finalizing your ideas on your science fair projects. Remember, because we have the science fair next weekend that will count as your midterm grade, we won't be having an exam. We'll be spending all of next week working on your projects, so I expect to be impressed by each of you. You can go ahead and pack up."

With that the classroom was filled with the sounds of zippers, shuffled papers and low conversations. While they packed, Alya said, "It's awesome that you're dad is finally letting you have a friend over, Adrien!"

Adrien zipped up his satchel. "Yeah, it really is. I'm honestly still kind of in shock about it. I feel like maybe I don't give him enough credit, you know?"

Alya hummed. "Maybe. I just hope he sees what a good decision this was today." She turned to Marinette. "What about you, girl? Do you think you could come over and hang out today?"

Marinette shook her head. "Not this time, Alya. Today I'm supposed to work with Mylene and Ivan to draw up a proposal to improve the school's recycling initiative. Maybe tomorrow?"

"Works for me."

The bell rang, and Marinette scooped up her bag and her purse. "Gotta go set up, see you later!" Marinette said as she hurried down the steps, then out the door.

With that the boys slung their bags over their shoulders and headed out. Adrien's bodyguard was already waiting for them with the car when they made it outside. They both climbed into the back and began discussing the afternoon's activities.

"We got lucky on the homework tonight," Adrien grinned. "All we have is the French lit reading assignment and a little bit of math."

Nino slapped his forehead. "Ugh, of course I would pick today to leave my copy of _The Toilers of the Sea_ at home."

Adrien shrugged. "No worries. You can borrow mine while I do the math assignment, and then when you're done we can switch."

"And then we play foosball?"

Adrien's eyes lit up. "Yes! And then we play foosball!"

They got to the mansion and went inside. When he didn't see Gabriel Agreste standing at the top of the staircase Nino breathed a sigh of relief.

Seemingly thinking the same thing, Adrien said, "The new ad campaign is coming up, so he will likely be keeping to himself today. We will still have to watch our step around Nathalie, though. Come on." Adrien led Nino up the stairs and into his room.

He had seen it before, but it was still absurdly large and with all the games and sports equipment, still struck him like one of those places you might book a timeslot for a birthday party. Which was ironic, given his history with Adrien's birthdays.

Adrien walked over to his desk and put his bag under it. "I'm going to go and put in an order with the chef for some snacks. Is there anything in particular you want?"

Nino couldn't help but wonder just exactly how open-ended that question was. "Just whatever is fine, dude. Thanks."

"Alright, I'll be right back!" With that, Adrien trotted out of the room.

Nino didn't know how long Adrien was going to be, so he thought it would be best to go ahead and get started on that reading assignment. He walked over to Adrien's desk and picked up his bag, intending to find _The Toilers of the Sea_. When he opened it, what he found instead was a pair of shocking green eyes looking at him. The eyes belonged to a small black creature.

The little black creature flattened his catlike ears and lifted an eyebrow at him.

Nino suddenly realized what he was looking at and felt a spike of panic as he dropped the bag and shrieked, "A kwami!"

The black kwami phased through the bag and darted up to him. He floated an inch from his face. His eyes were narrowed to slits and he growled, "_That_ was a _mistake. _Now you will know the Wrath of Destruction!"

"Plagg, no! What are you doing?!" In the excitement Nino hadn't noticed Adrien walk in the room. The way Plagg flinched made him think he hadn't noticed either.

However surprised he might have been, Plagg did not back down in the slightest. Keeping his eyes on Nino he said, "Adrien, I told you no one must ever know I exist. I _meant _that."

Nino, up until this point had so much adrenaline pumping through him that very little information aside from the angry green eyes in front of him had made it through the haze of panic. The thought that managed to surface was that Adrien and Plagg were apparently acquainted. Nino hissed, "Adrien! Why do you have a kwami?!" As soon as the words left his mouth he realized he knew exactly why. A black cat kwami could only belong to _the_ Chat Noir, who was apparently standing right in front of him. Unbelievably, Chat Noir had been right in front of him the whole time.

There was a beat of silence. Adrien said quietly, "Why do you know what a kwami is?"

"Oh. Shit. Um, I'm Carapace. Ladybug is going to kill me."

At that Plagg moved back slightly to give Nino some space and said, "If The Ladybug trusts you with Wayzz, I will defer to her judgement for now. But you tell _no one,_ and you better find a way to stop shouting 'kwami' when you're surprised." He floated over to Adrien. "I'm out." He then phased through the door of a mini fridge, pushed it back open from the inside carrying a wheel of cheese bigger than himself, then darted upwards and disappeared somewhere on the second level of the room.

Adrien watched Plagg as he made his exit, then turned back to Nino, eyes wide. "Sorry about him," Adrien chuckled nervously. "He's usually, well... not _nice_ exactly, but never threatening like that."

"No, it's fine. He had a point. I should have been more careful about saying that word out loud."

Adrien heaved a sigh. "So, Carapace, huh?" He rubbed his face with both hands then blew out a breath. "This is nuts. Of all the people in Paris, she chose the one guy I am certain I know better than she does. How does that even happen?"

"Well, yeah, but my part time gig as a superhero fill-in is suddenly a lot less cool in the presence of the actual Chat Noir! That is seriously legit!" Nino had taken to whisper-yelling. He was trying to stay quiet, but that was as much as he could contain his excitement.

"Yep. She's going to kill us both." Adrien rubbed his face. "I'm going to be murdered by the love of my life."

"Oh my God, that's right. You're in love with _Ladybug_, and not just in some celebrity crush kind of way."

"You know about that?"

"Everyone in Paris knows Chat Noir is head over heels for Ladybug. As far as being obvious goes, you're just as bad as Marinette with… um, nevermind."

"You mean Luka?"

"Yeah, Luka." Nino blew out a breath as he walked over to the couch and sat heavily. "Don't feel bad though, everybody's pulling for you. I mean, who doesn't want to see that ship sail?"

Adrien rolled his eyes. "Ladybug. She's... um... she's expressed pretty clearly that she's not interested. She said there's someone else, but I don't think they're actually together. I don't mind waiting, and if that guy doesn't get his act together, well, maybe she'll lose interest?"

Nino raised an eyebrow at him. "Just to be clear, you are aware that you are not entitled to have her return your feelings, regardless of how much you love her, right?"

"What? Oh God, no!" Adrien also whisper-yelled. "No. I mean it would be nice, and I'll admit the frustration has gotten to me at times… in unflattering ways, but no. I want her to do what makes her happy. I just wish that were being with me."

Not knowing how to respond to that, Nino bobbed his head in affirmation. He looked at Adrien who had started absentmindedly playing with his ring. The ring. "Dude. Dude! Is that the Ring? That's totally the ring! Can I see it?"

"Oh, uh yeah, it is. Yes? But I'm not comfortable taking it off." Adrien took a seat on the coffee table facing Nino on the couch and held up his fist for his friend's inspection.

Nino peered at the silver ring. "You know, for a piece of jewelry that has had an entire army of supervillains dedicated to searching for it, I didn't expect it to be so plain. Now I'm wondering what the Bug Earrings look like on whoever-Ladybug-is. Honestly, I think the turtle bracelet looks cooler. What do the earrings look like, anyway?"

Adrien moved off of the table and flopped on the couch with a sigh. "I have no idea. She says we can't know anything about each other."

Nino removed his cap, scratched his head, and put it back. "I just assumed you knew each other. It's kind of weird that I know before she does."

"Yeah, I need to tell her you know." Adrien leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "Hmm. But she knows who you are, and I don't want to risk her figuring out that you found me out because you know me personally."

"Would it be that big a deal if she figured you out?"

"Yes - and if I left her a trail of breadcrumbs, intentionally or not, she would be pissed. I'm just going to tell her that somebody I trust found out."

"Aw, thanks man."

Adrien rolled his eyes. "Alright, now. If we want you to be allowed to come back, we need to get that homework done. Do you want the math or the French lit first?"

Nino got up and stretched. "You are seriously going to jump from all that straight into homework?"

Adrien pulled the books out of his messenger bag and started sorting through the relevant ones. "Well, I already knew I was Chat Noir. If we don't get this homework done we'll never get to the foosball match, and you won't be allowed back. Those are the pressing matters as far as I'm concerned.

Nino shook his head. "Fair enough. I'm a quick reader, hand me _The Toilers of the Sea_."


	2. Chapter 2

It was still a nice day out when Nino left the house. He spent some time enjoying the sun on the back of his dark shirt while he easily dodged the other pedestrians. He listened to a few of his new favorite tunes on his way to the grocery store to pick up a few things for his Mom. He had leaped at the chance to get out of the house and away from his little brother for a while when his mother asked him.

That was when he left the house. Now he stood on top of a building with a couple dozen other people and wondered if Kim had anything to do with the massive flooding on the streets below.

He was peering down at the water when a ruckus started behind him. When he heard someone yell, "Ladybug!" he turned and saw her on the roof with them. It wasn't often he got to see her in her aqua form. The extra long pigtails with pink tips looked kinda cute. The flippers looked a little goofy. Even still, she projected a sense of control and authority as the scared people on the rooftop clamored around her, shouting for her to save them.

Ladybug raised a hand in the air, "Alright everybody, we're getting things under control! We are very hopeful that you won't have to be up here much longer and you can go back to whatever you were doing. This is a relatively safe location, so please stay out of the water. I'm going to need you to continue waiting it out here while we take care of this problem." She looked at Nino and said, "I came here because I need to take this young man to ask a few questions, as we think he may have some key information on today's victim." As the crowd settled down she walked over to Nino, grabbed him firmly around the waist and said, "Hold on tight." She slung her yo-yo out to a taller building nearby and brought them to rest on its roof where they had more privacy.

When Nino's feet touched down he steadied himself and asked, "_Is _this Kim's fault?"

"What? Oh, no. This has nothing to do with Kim or Ondine. This is a city sewer worker. We're calling in all the heroes because isolating his location in the sewers is proving difficult and we just really need to be able to cover more ground. Are you up to it today?"

"Absolutely Ladybug, whatever you need."

"Good," Ladybug held out the box to him, "Put it on, but don't transform yet, I need to prep Wayzz."

Nino furrowed his eyebrows and took the box from her. "Um. Okay" He opened the box and the Turtle kwami appeared in a ball of green light.

Wayzz blinked his eyes open and shouted, "Nino!" and performed the little jig that was his half of their now traditional handshake.

Ladybug pulled out something small, round, flat, and blue. She said, "Okay Wayzz this is for you today."

"Oh, thank you! The blue is my favorite." Wayzz took it from her hand and started munching on it.

Nino watched in confusion. He turned to Ladybug and asked, "Is that a little blue pancake?"

Ladybug giggled. "Yes. Wayzz can eat a lot of things, but does best with breads, and somehow pancakes ended up as his current preference. Though, I'm not sure I would personally call it bread." Wayzz snorted at her, and she rolled her eyes in response as she continued, "It's blue because of a special ingredient that we are going to need today given the nature of this particular supervillain." She looked to Wayzz and asked, "All set?"

Wayzz wiped the crumbs off his face, and nodded once and did a little flip in the air, shouting, "Water Wayzz!" He emitted green sparkles and his nubby arms and legs elongated and flattened into more effective flippers.

"Water Wayzz?" asked Nino, who didn't find that he looked all that different.

Wayzz shrugged. Ladybug said to Nino, "Alright, go ahead and transform."

Nino nodded, "Okay then. Water Wayzz, shell on!" Once the green flash finished Nino looked himself over. He mostly looked like Carapace, but the fingers on his gloves extended a bit and there was webbing between each of them. The front of his boots were also longer with false toes that also had webbing, making his feet more aquatic, but in a reptilian sense, rather than the fin-like flippers on Ladybug's own feet.

"Alright," Ladybug declared, "Now let's get going. We're meeting the others at the Louvre. Come on!" With that she slung out her yo-yo and headed south, clearly expecting him to follow. His super suit didn't offer any obvious mode of transportation, so on a hunch he dove down into the flood water below. After all, he couldn't really get any more aquatic than his current form.

His hunch paid off. Nino effortlessly darted through the water at speeds he would not have thought possible, and dodged occasional obstacles with ease. He swam to the Louvre above the streets, making it easier to navigate anyway, since he wasn't really used to seeing the city from the rooftops. He jumped onto the roof of the museum and found Chat Noir and Queen Bee similarly dressed for swimming.

Chat Noir's face lit up at the sight of him. "Carapace!" he shouted as he bounded over and high fived his friend, then gave him a couple thumps on the back for good measure.

Queen Bee stood with her arms folded across her chest, and commented, "Well, aren't you two chummy."

With that, Ladybug and an aquatic Rena Rouge landed on the roof of the Louvre and made their way toward them. Chat chuckled and glanced around at the others, "It's just nice to have another guy on the team, you know?"

Ladybug rolled her eyes, "Okay ladies _and_ gentlemen, here's the situation. We have a disgruntled city sewer worker flooding Paris. Through his monologuing we've gleaned that he was put in charge of some major repairs that neglected some areas he felt were more important, and also spread him a bit thin. As he feels expected to be in 'five places at once' - his words - on this project, he has four duplicates out there. The akuma is in the worker's hard hat, but there's a problem: every time we destroy one of the duplicate's hard hats, that one vanishes and another duplicate appears. They're all slippery enough that Chat Noir and I have not been able to narrow them down to the original."

Chat Noir pulled up a map of the sewer system on the screen of his baton to show everyone and he continued the explanation where Ladybug left off. "We have reason to believe they are all within this area," he pointed to an area contained in the first and fourth arrondissements, right up against the Seine river, which included the Louvre. "If we can each track down a copy and try to herd them to this area," he pointed to a relatively central location where much of the sewer system converged, "and destroy all the hard hats at something close to the same time, then one of them will be the right one and we can all take off our floaties."

Queen Bee groaned, "You mean we have to chase this guy around in the sewers?" She cocked an eyebrow at Ladybug, "I hope your magical ladybugs can get all that funk out of my hair."

Ladybug smiled, "Your assistance is always appreciated, Queen Bee."

Rena Rouge bumped her hip against Carapace's and she crooned, "Ready for a dip, Turtle Boy?" Carapace noticed Chat Noir's eyes widen at the two of them briefly and then his head swiveled to look seemingly anywhere else.

_Oh, crap. _Nino thought. "Heh, of course," He responded to Rena Rouge, not quite making eye contact. Rena gave him a puzzled look.

Ladybug spoke up, "Alright, everybody, pull out your maps. Rena, Carapace, you go in here and here. Queen Bee, you're entry point is over here. Chat's got this section, and I'm going in over there. When you find a copy, let the rest of us know, but do not engage. If you see more than one, alert the rest of us so one of us can come to you. When we each have one, we'll converge and execute. Everybody got it?" The others nodded or voiced their assent. "Alright, let's go then!" With that she jumped down into the water.

—

Once the ladybug swarm drained all the streets of Paris and set things right, the five heroes climbed out of the sewers onto a sidewalk. Rena glared at Carapace and said, "Glad that's finally over." She tossed her hair and sighed, "Ladybug, I really need to get home and put that one behind me."

Ladybug looked between Carapace and Rena Rouge with a concerned expression. "Okay then. Carapace, I'll be back for you in a moment. Let's go, Rena." Rena wasted no time bounding off in the direction she came from, and Ladybug slung out her yo-yo and followed.

Queen Bee laughed and said, "Did I really hear you tell her to 'keep it professional'? I don't think _that's_ going to be a problem anymore." She she pinched a lock of her hair between her fingers and looked at it with disgust. "I know it's gone, but I still need to take a shower or three, right now. Get me out of here, Chat Noir."

Chat Noir furrowed his brows and said, "Carapace, you okay waiting here for Ladybug?"

Carapace nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm sure she won't be long. Go on ahead." Chat Noir nodded as he unclipped his baton. Queen Bee headed for Le Grand Paris Hotel, and Chat gave a worried glance back at Nino before he was off to join her.

Nino knew he was going to have to make this up to Alya somehow. He was just trying to keep her from putting her identity in jeopardy. It wasn't her fault, but she had no way to know.

It wasn't long before Ladybug came swinging back. When she landed next to him, she furrowed her brows and said, "Are you and Rena doing okay?"

Nino shrugged. "It's nothing we won't get past, I'm sure. It's just a misunderstanding we're going to need to hash out."

Ladybug smiled and gave a small nod. "Alright, let's go put Nino back where I got him." Together they jumped up to rooftop level to head in a straight line to the part of town they had previously been in. When they got close to where she picked him up, they jumped down to a secluded alley.

Ladybug said, "Thanks again. Your help really made a difference out there."

Before he dropped transformation, Carapace took in a deep breath and asked, "Um, Ladybug? Would it be okay if I had a moment to talk with Wayzz? There's just a couple things I want his input on."

Ladybug frowned and tilted her head slightly. "Hmm. I don't think that would be a problem, but make it quick. Here," She pulled a small pancake out of her yo-yo and handed it to him. "I'm going to feed my kwami nearby. You might as well do the same."

"Thanks, LB."

Ladybug nodded to him and used her yo-yo to propel herself to the top of the building behind her.

Now alone in the alleyway, Nino sighed and said, "Shell off." His transformation dropped and he found himself looking at the turtle kwami, who was delighted to be offered another pancake. "Wayzz, we have a couple minutes, and there are some things I want to bounce off of you, if that's okay?"

Wayzz looked up at him with a quizzical expression, cheeks full, holding the small pancake with his flippers. He swallowed his bite. "Well, sure, Nino. How can I be of service?"

Nino took his cap off, ran his hand through his hair, and replaced it. "I accidentally found out who Chat Noir is and he's my best friend and I met his kwami, Plagg, and we definitely didn't start off on the right foot because Plagg threatened to kill me and the last thing I want is to not get along with Chat Noir's kwami because things are already stressful enough in that house as it is-"

"Nino," Wayzz interrupted him. "If Plagg threatened to kill you, I don't think you really have anything to worry about. Why did he threaten to kill you? What did he say?"

Nino's brows shot up, and then he squinted at Wayzz, trying to make sense of what he just said. "He threatened to kill me because I saw him. And… because when I did," Nino cringed, "I shouted the word 'kwami.' He said something about a mistake and 'Now you will know the Wrath of Destruction,' then Adrien came in and they had a little argument, and when I said I was Carapace, Plagg backed off and said something about trusting 'the Ladybug's judgement.' Then he said he was out and left. Well, he didn't _leave _leave, but he went to the second story and didn't come back until after I was gone."

Wayzz snorted. "Don't worry too much. You should make a peace offering, but when Plagg uses phrases like 'Wrath of Destruction' he's stalling for time and waiting to be talked out of it. It sounds to me that Plagg already had reason to like you." Nino just looked at him with a puzzled expression, so Wayzz continued, "If Plagg honestly thought you needed to be dead, you'd just be dead. He wouldn't waste his breath explaining it to you."

Nino's jaw dropped, then he said, "Yeah, that doesn't really make me feel better! Something like _that_ is living in the room where my best friend _sleeps?"_

Wayzz nodded his head. "I understand why you're concerned, but don't judge Plagg too harshly. This isn't the first time a miraculous has fallen into the wrong hands."

"You mean 'wrong hands' like Hawk Moth."

"Exactly. Several of us have had owners that abused the power of the Miraculous. Plagg, being the Kwami of Destruction, has been regularly coveted and often taken by less than worthy owners. His powers have been used for truly terrible things throughout history. You'll find that Plagg is often lazy and selfish by default. That comes in part from experiences where being lazy, unhelpful, and distracted aids the greater good, and being selfish and disinterested was his only means of distancing himself from a cruel owner. Not to say those aren't his true qualities, but they don't come without reason and there is more to him than that. Because of that experience, if Plagg thought protecting his Miraculous meant killing a person, he would do it, and he would sleep well knowing he probably saved several innocent lives."

Nino folded his arms and rubbed his chin with one hand. "Wow. Okay... That makes sense. That still doesn't exactly make me feel better about my friend."

"Your friend is fine, Nino. He is kind, and innocent almost to a fault. It would never occur to him to use his Miraculous to harm anyone; in fact he would find the very idea repulsive. That is exactly the kind of owner Plagg needs. It takes time for him to trust anyone, but he would eventually trust an owner like that, and once he does, Plagg would go to great lengths to protect him."

Nino heard Ladybug's voice from the rooftop above, "You ready?"

He shouted, "Almost! Just another minute!" He looked back to Wayzz and asked, "How do you know so much about my friend?"

"I helped pick the current owner of the black cat miraculous." At that, Nino was stunned. Ladybug had been the one to choose him, but he hadn't given much thought to how Ladybug and, well Adrien, _became_ Ladybug and Chat Noir. Wayzz continued, "By the way, next time you think you might spend time with Plagg, bring comté cheese. I promise he'll appreciate it. And Nino?"

"Hmm?"

"What I've told you is probably more than even your friend is aware of, and Plagg will not want to discuss it, nor should he be expected to. This is not a topic of conversation you should have with either of them or anyone else. Do you understand?"

"Oh! Yeah, absolutely. Not a word. Thanks, little dude."

"Anytime, Nino."

Nino shouted toward the rooftop, "Hey Ladybug?"

She peered over the edge. "All set?"

"Yeah!"

Ladybug lowered herself down with the yo-yo, and held out her hand to him. Nino looked at Wayzz, who winked at him, before he took off his bracelet and handed it to Ladybug.

"Need a lift, Nino?"

"Nah, I'm in the right neighborhood and I still have errands to run."

"Alright, then. Thanks again!" With that she sent her yo-yo back up to the rooftop and was off.

—

The next day at school was an odd sort of gauntlet for Nino. Alya barely spoke to him, and when she did it was with as few words as possible. Meanwhile, he wasn't exactly avoiding Adrien, but he really wasn't looking forward to a conversation with him that he knew was coming.

"Nino, Can I talk to you in the _Library_?" Adrien had just stood from his side of the bench with his bag draped over his shoulder. His eyes flicked to Alya and back, then he looked at Nino with his eyebrows raised in that unmistakable _we need to talk_ expression. Class had just let out and they had a few minutes before they were expected at their next one.

Nino said, "Yeah, sure Adrien." Nino looked at Alya who was wearing a supremely uninterested expression. While still packing his bag, Nino said to her, "I'll see you in History class, 'kay babe?"

Alya raised an eyebrow at Nino. "Sure. Come on Marinette." With that, she got up and put on her bag while Marinette stretched and rubbed her shoulder then started gathering her things. Alya tilted her head and looked at her friend. "Is your shoulder bothering you? Girl, what did you do this time?"

"What? Oh yeah." She smiled sheepishly at her gathered friends. "I tripped in the kitchen last night and landed on the corner of the oven wrong. I mean," Marinette scrunched her nose and looked toward the ceiling, "I'm not sure how to do that the right way," she looked at Alya and shrugged, "but you know what I mean."

Adrien looked at Marinette, abashed. "Goodness Marinette, that sounds really painful!"

Marinette startled under his direct attention and dropped her stylus. Adrien caught it after it bounced off the desk before it reached the floor and handed it to her. As she took it from him, her cheeks visibly pinked and she said, "Oh, it's nealy roth- Really nothing! I do that kind of thing all the time. Hah ha. Oh, um thanks."

Adrien glanced at the door and grabbed his shoulder strap. "Well, I hope it feels better soon. Uh, Nino?" He tilted his head towards the door, and started walking.

"Oh, right!" Nino shouted, and grabbed up his belongings. "Catch up with you later!" he called to the girls as he followed after Adrien. The two of them walked to the library in silence. Nino didn't know for sure what it was Adrien wanted to talk about, but he had a bad feeling it had something to do with the way he glanced at Alya when he had requested the meeting.

The library was mostly empty, but Adrien scoured the whole room for the most secluded corner as far from prying ears as possible. When Adrien seemed satisfied with their location, he rounded on Nino and locked him with a stare. Adrien cleared his throat and whispered, "Alya has a pet fox, doesn't she?"

Nino sighed, closed his eyes, and hung his head. There was no getting around it. They'd been caught. He should have warned her somehow before that they needed to be less conspicuous. He opened his eyes, looked at Adrien, and whispered, "Sometimes."

Adrien ran his fingers through his hair and chuckled mirthlessly at their complicated situation. He whispered, "Oh man. Seeing you two at the um, _swim party,_ I was a little worried at first, since I didn't know who she was. But when I thought about it, I realized it had to be her, because you're not sleazy enough to _cheat_ on Alya, and you're not stupid enough to cheat on _Alya._"

Nino shook his head and whispered, "I'd say thanks for the vote of confidence, but those are both really low bars. So now what? Do we bring her in?"

"Hmm," Adrien pursed his lips as he stared at a blank space, pondering. "As much as I'd like to, I need to think on that. Not yet." He looked at Nino, "Sorry. We'll sort it out when you come over tomorrow."

"Hey, I get it. Safety first."

"She's mad at you, isn't she?"

"Maybe a little. I was just trying to avoid having _this_ conversation, but she doesn't know that."

"Yeah. Sorry, man."

"Hey, no sweat. Alya likes me enough, we'll get around this."

Adrien smirked, then batted his eyelashes, "Well, you are awfully cute."

Nino snorted and shoved Adrien. "Shut up, dude. We should head to History class."

When they got to history class, Mr. D'Argencourt was already writing highlights from today's lesson on the board. "Everyone please hurry and be seated. We'll be beginning the lesson on the French Revolution today. The French Revolution chapter in your textbook takes a little more than a week to go over, but there are some key points that it doesn't adequately cover, so we will be packing a lot of information into the next two weeks to prepare for your midterm." Mr. D'Argencourt sat at his desk and began organizing his notes for the day's lesson. Nino took his seat at the front of the class, and looked at Alya behind him. She was ignoring him in favor of her phone.

Adrien hesitated by his seat, then put his bags down and walked up to the teacher's desk. "Mr. D'Argencourt?"

"Adrien! How can I help you, my boy?"

"I uh, I'm going to be out of school for most of the week before midterms for an ad campaign, so I'm likely going to be missing a lot of your lessons, and you said some of it isn't coming from the textbook. Would there be a way for me to get a copy of the additional information so I can study the material early and when I get time between photo shoots?"

Mr. D'Argencourt furrowed his brow. "That is going to be a lot of material you'll be missing out on in class. Are you sure you can't be here for it?"

Adrien shook his head. "No sir. But don't worry, I have a lot of practice learning my schoolwork on my own, and I know I can keep on top of it."

The teacher looked him over and rubbed his chin. "Well, you've shown me in fencing that you can be very good at self-motivating. I'll get the complete lesson to you by Friday."

Adrien beamed. "Thank you sir!" With that he took his seat and started prepping for class.

Nino couldn't say that class was boring. Mr. D'Argencourt was always very expressive about the subject. He has been known to finish a lesson from on top of his chair, aggressively brandishing a pointer. However, he could still feel the irritation radiating off of Alya. He knew she wasn't mad exactly, but he still hadn't had a chance to explain to her why he had rebuffed her affection the day before at the battle, and he knew her feelings were bruised. The trouble was, he still didn't know what to say to her about it. Before he knew it, his classmates were shifting around and shuffling their belongings, preparing to go.

_Now's as good a time as any._ "Mind if I walk you home today, Alya?"

Alya pushed her glasses up her nose and pursed her lips. "Yeah. We can do that." She turned to Marinette. "I'll call you later, okay girl?"

"Sure, Alya. I gotta hurry home anyway. I need to get a head start on the science fair project."

Nino and Alya walked together in silence out the school doors, down the stairs, and even around the corner toward Alya's family's apartment. Once they were no longer navigating through the throng of fellow students, Alya asked, "So do you mind telling me what that was about yesterday? I assume you had a good reason to give me the cold shoulder, but I can't think of one."

Nino sighed. He could not think of a plausible explanation that wasn't the truth, and he really didn't want to anyway. "Somebody knows my identity, and I was trying to protect yours. I should have mentioned it sooner, and I'm sorry. I was just trying not to draw attention to the fact that we are a couple."

"Well that doesn't make sense, with all the water around, the only people there were the five of… No!" Alya rounded on Nino. "Ladybug already knows, obviously, and if it were Chloe then she'd figure that out immediately since she knows both of us!" Nino cringed at that. Alya gasped and stopped in her tracks. She covered her mouth with a hand and her eyes darted around while a family passed them from the other direction as they stood in the middle of the sidewalk. Once no one was near enough to hear, she whispered, "Chat Noir knows your identity."

Nino hung his head and said, "Yeah."

"How did he find out? Do you know his?"

Nino's head popped up and he blurted, "No!"

"Oh my God, you _do!"_

Nino grabbed her by the shoulders and pleaded with her. "Alya, I need you to stop. I know I'm asking a big thing, but I cannot tell you anymore than I already have. Please, for the good of Paris and the safety of its heroes, please just let this one go."

Alya took in a sharp breath and fixed Nino with a glare. Then her expression melted. "Gah! Okay, fine." She glared again. "This really sucks though," She stuck her finger in his face. "You owe me big time for this!"

Nino chuckled. "I do. Me, and all of Paris," He put an arm around her and nudged them to continue walking. Alya complied and he said, "I'll do my very best to make it up to you."

She elbowed him lightly in the ribs and said, "Yeah?"

He chuckled and kissed her head. "Yeah."


	3. Chapter 3

The following day after school Nino saluted the Gorilla as he climbed into the back of the car with Adrien. Once he was in and buckled he asked Adrien, "Why do you ride to school anyway instead of just walking?"

Adrien sighed. "Father insists. I have to be driven by my bodyguard to and from school each day 'for my safety.'" Adrien motioned toward his bodyguard and said, "I asked if he could walk with me to school instead of driving me, but that was when Father decided he was done with the conversation." By the end of the explanation they were driving through the front gates at the Agreste Mansion.

They walked through the doors and were greeted by Nathalie. "Adrien, I see that Mr. Lahiffe was able to make it for his visit today, very good. I trust that you will complete all of your homework before moving on to recreational activities."

Adrien stood before Nathalie, lifted his chin and held his hands behind him in a businesslike manner. "Of course, we will certainly defer all recreation until after our assignments are completed."

Nathalie raised an eyebrow.

Adrien chuckled, and rubbed the back of his neck. "We'll behave, Nathalie. I promise."

"See that you do."

With that, Nathalie gave a curt nod and left them to disappear into Gabriel's atelier, presumably on important business. Adrien began trotting up the stairs to his room and Nino followed. Once they were in the room with the door closed, Nino put his bag on Adrien's coffee table and pulled out a large slab of comté cheese.

"The coast is clear, Plagg," Adrien said as he set his bag down on his desk and sat in front of the central monitor to pull up the first assignment on the class website.

Plagg floated out of Adrien's bag, and stopped abruptly. He turned toward Nino and inhaled deeply through his nose. "Is that… comté?"

"Yep," Nino said. "A peace offering."

Plagg snorted, but floated over to him nonetheless. He took the offered cheese, settled on the coffee table and took a large bite. "Oh man, this takes me back." Plagg squinted at Nino. "You've been talking to Wayzz, haven't you?"

"I may have been."

"Well, the peace offering was a _great _idea, but Wayzz likes to talk a lot and can be a bit too sentimental. So just forget everything else he might have mentioned about me, okay?"

Nino huffed a laugh. "Does that mean you're not going to kill me today?"

Plagg smirked, bit off another chunk of comté, and said with a full mouth "Nah. I'm not in the mood." He then gathered up the remaining cheese in his arms and floated away to the top floor like he did the first time he met him. Nino had a much better feeling about it this time.

He turned to Adrien, who had been watching the exchange. Adrien said, "Well, that looked like progress," then turned and gestured to the schedule on his monitor. "Okay, so we have the French lit assignment and math, as usual. For French lit I was able to do it in class, which helped, so tonight I can concentrate on next Tuesday's assignment, on my 'two weeks at a time' plan. For the math, I did yesterday and today's assignment yesterday, and I did most of tomorrow's during lunch, so I'm doing the rest and Thursday's tonight. And then we have to do a bit on the written portion of the science fair projects."

Nino let out a low whistle. "Alright, well let's get to it, because I've got plans for tonight." He pulled out a deck of Hoyle playing cards. "I know we won't have long to play, but I'd like to at least lay down the basics. I'm assuming here, but you haven't ever played poker, have you?"

Adrien eyed the cards, wary but clearly interested. "No, I have not. I've seen videos of tournaments and stuff, though."

Plagg spoke from behind Nino, _much_ closer than he was expecting, "What are the stakes?"

Nino looked at the kwami, who had his eyebrow raised. Nino was suddenly very glad he thought to prepare for this possibility: three players works better than two, after all. However, he felt like he was suddenly walking on thin ice. Directly involving Plagg was something he wasn't sure he was ready to do without screwing it up. "Well, especially since this is mostly just a learning exercise, I thought we'd use something simple, but that I think we'd all enjoy." Nino reached into his bag with both hands, and pulled out three bags of cheese puffs.

Plagg's eyes went wide, and he did a little flip in the air. "I'm in. Hurry up and finish that boring stuff so we can get to the game." He then flew over to the desk and took Adrien's tablet and earbuds. He flew over to the bed and settled himself between the pillows with his back to the room. After a few swipes at the tablet screen, Plagg started up a competitive cooking show, earbuds sitting on either side of him.

Until that moment, Nino hadn't really given much thought about what it would be like living with Plagg. Sure, when he first found out he got the willies thinking about Adrien sleeping under the gaze of the menacing Bearer of Destruction, but he hadn't really thought about what it would be like to work out sleeping arrangements and balancing personal boundaries and the mundane parts of daily life with the tiny kitty of ruin.

Pulling himself out of those thoughts, Nino turned back to Adrien and said, "Is there anything I can do to offload any of that work a bit?"

Adrien spun in his chair as he considered. He stopped to face Nino. "Actually, if you could take a look over the report for my science fair project, that would be great. It's written, but it needs to be proofread, and I'd prefer a second pair of eyes on it."

"Cool. I'll do that first and then my homework. If you end up finishing before me, I can just do the rest at home, no biggie."

In less time than he expected, Nino completed proofreading the paper, making the recommended corrections after Adrien looked back over it, and finished his own homework. Adrien had completed the math first and had just a few pages left of next Tuesday's French lit assignment left, so Nino spent that time watching over Plagg's shoulder as some poor chef tearfully explained why their souffle should not have collapsed.

"Aaand, done!" exclaimed Adrien. "Are we ready for poker night?"

"Absolutely!" cried Nino as he grabbed the cheese puffs and the deck of cards. He sat on the couch at the coffee table and started shuffling. Adrien scooted his desk chair to the other side of the coffee table, and Plagg sat on one end.

"Alright," Nino began, "Adrien, you said you've never played, so we're starting from scratch with you. Plagg, am I correct in assuming that you do know how to play?"

Plagg grinned, "You could say that. Can we keep it to something simple, like five card draw?"

Nino eyed Plagg dubiously then looked at Adrien, who was practically bouncing in his seat. "Yeah, I think that's probably for the best. Adrien, I made you a reference card so you know what hands beat what. Going from the bottom up it's high card, pair, two pair, three of a kind, straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, straight flush, and royal flush. There are examples next to each of the names of the hands."

Adrien examined the cheat sheet he'd been given. "Ha! I like the little pictures of the poker hands, nicely done. Hey, isn't a royal flush the same thing as a straight flush, just the highest kind?"

Nino passed a bag of cheese puffs to each of them. "Yeah, that's why it's the highest hand." He started dealing each of them five cards. "This is just a practice hand, so you can kind of get the feel."

Adrien watched Nino deal the cards. "But it's the same hand, that's like calling a pair of aces and a pair of kings a 'royal two pair.' It's just needlessly pompous, if you ask me." He reached out to grab his cards while Nino was dealing, but stopped short. "Can I pick up the cards?"

"You should wait for the dealer to finish dealing, but yes, once all your cards are dealt you can pick them up and look at them."

The three of them picked up their cards. Adrien and Nino looked over at Plagg, whose fan of five cards looked comically large compared to his small stature. Nino looked back at his own cards and failed to suppress a grin. Adrien snorted.

Plagg eyed them both and said, "Laugh now while it's still funny."

Nino explained how to ante at the beginning of each hand and how the rounds of betting worked, with a rough idea of when to bet, check, raise, match, or fold. Then he explained how after a round of betting you can discard some or all of your hand to build a better hand, and then there's another round of betting. "Once all that's done, whoever still hasn't folded compares their hands and whoever has the highest wins all the cheese puffs. It's pretty simple. So since we've gone through those motions, let's look at what everyone has and see who won."

The three of them put their cards down face up. Nino went around explaining each hand. "Now, Adrien, you've got… A pair of jacks. Not too bad. Plagg's got… a pair of aces and a pair of eights." Nino's eyebrows lifted as he looked at Plagg and said, "Dude." Plagg rolled his eyes and shrugged. Nino continued, "And I got three of a kind, sevens. So Plagg beat your pair with his two pair, but I beat you both with my triple sevens. Got it?"

Adrien ripped open his cheese puff bag. "Yes, let's do this!"

Nino set to shuffling, and everybody anted a cheese puff. While Nino dealt the hand, he took this first available opportunity to find out more about something he's been dying to learn since Adrien accidentally brought it up the other day. "So uh, Plagg, were you really around with the dinosaurs? Adrien, your bet."

Adrien threw a cheese puff in the center of the table while Plagg glared at Nino and answered, "Do we have to talk about that? I told her I was sorry." Then threw in his own cheese puff.

Nino frowned at his hand, anted, and said, "Who? Adrien, how many?"

Plagg said, "No one."

Adrien said, "Two please."

As Nino dealt two cards to Adrien, who put his discards to the side and stared at his hand while rearranging the cards. Nino continued, "I'm not trying to dredge up bad stuff. But, I mean, dinosaurs! What were they like?"

Plagg tossed a few cards near Adrien's discards, "Three."

Nino dealt Plagg his cards, then looked at his own hand again. "I'm taking three. Adrien, your bet."

Adrien frowned at his hand. "I bet three." He placed three cheese puffs in the middle of the table.

Plagg rolled three puffs to the center and said, "Eh, not a whole lot different from animals today."

Nino put his hand down. "I fold. Come on, they had to be some different. Alright guys, call 'em."

Adrien put his hand face up on the table, "Pair of sevens." He was grinning, though Nino could see he was trying not to.

Plagg dropped his cards with a wide smile, "Sorry kid, pair of tens." Then he floated to the center and corralled the cheese puffs over to his pile at the end of the table. "No, really though, they were very similar in a lot of ways. Just the size range was all over the place." Distracted by the puffs, he muttered to himself, "I don't know what she was thinking."

Nino collected all the cards and began shuffling them again. "What who was thinking?" He set the cards next to Adrien and tossed a cheese puff in the middle. The other two did the same.

Plagg glared at Nino. "I said no one."

Adrien, apparently unfazed by Plagg's tone, rolled his eyes and said, "The Kwami of Creation. He won't tell me her name, though."

Plagg turned his scowl on Adrien. "Because you don't need to know. It's your deal."

Adrien startled a bit. "Oh, right!" He started dealing out the next hand.

While watching Adrien deal, Plagg continued. "Anyway, there was your normal array of small and medium plants and animals, a lot like today, but the big ones were ridiculous. It was like there was no upper limit!"

The three of them looked at their hands. Plagg said "Check."

Nino threw in a cheese puff. Adrien, then Plagg, also threw in a cheese puff. Plagg said, "Two," as he threw two of his cards to the side, and continued while Adrien dealt all the draw cards, "Those things could get huge. I mean everybody's familiar with a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but there were other predators that had them beat. Check - and if we're talking size?" Plagg let out a low whistle. "The predators had _nothing_ on the prey."

Nino tossed in a handful of cheese puffs, then Adrien did the same. Plagg said, "I fold."

Nino and Adrien showed their cards. Adrien said, "Okay, your pair of aces beats my… queen high." Nino and Plagg each gave him a confused look. Adrien shrugged. "What? They're just cheese puffs."

Nino collected his winnings and said, "Hey Plagg, do you want to deal, or do you want one of us to deal for you?"

Plagg shrugged, "It's too much work. You can do it if you want."

Nino nodded, threw in a cheese puff for his ante and began dealing the next round in Plagg's place.

Adrien tossed in a cheese puff and said, "You know, just seeing _one _T-Rex up close was bad enough. It's hard to imagine an ecosystem full of things like that... I watched 'Bug literally run full speed at him and jump into his mouth. When his jaws slammed shut? That still tops everything else as the scariest thing I've ever seen." He shook his head. "My mind just kept playing that moment back over and over again." Adrien shuddered. "Oh, uh, what's the bet?"

Nino answered, "Five." Adrien automatically threw five in. Nino said, "You know, that T-Rex? That was Animan, my girlfriend's Dad. Plagg, you in?"

Plagg scratched his head. "Hold on, I only have four cards."

Nino said, "Oh sorry," and tossed him another card.

"Thanks. Yeah, I'm in." Plagg pushed in his cheese puffs.

Nino continued as he discarded and dealt himself replacements, "I mean, we weren't dating at the time, but he's scary enough without being a dinosaur, you know? How many, Adrien?

"Three."

"Plagg, how many?"

"One. I bet he is."

They completed another round of betting. Plagg said, "Call 'em."

Nino said, "Does anyone beat two pair, tens and sevens?"

Adrien dropped his cards, "Aw man!"

Plagg snickered, "How about two pair, kings and fours?"

Nino groaned and put his head in his hands while Plagg collected his winnings. Once Nino was done accepting his loss, he started dealing again.

Adrien watched the deal and said, "Speaking of Alya, I cannot believe Ladybug chose the Ladyblogger of all people to be Rena Rouge! That was her first choice as a fill-in, no less!" Adrien gathered up his cards and nodded at them. "I bet two."

Plagg threw in a couple cheese puffs and Nino said, "I fold. And Alya would absolutely be my first choice to be a superhero, obvious bias aside."

Adrien rubbed his chin. "Well, she's clearly not afraid of the akuma battles. I often wish she would be. Three please."

Plagg said, "Give me three."

Nino dealt the draw cards and cringed as he said, "Yeah, and I might have accidentally let slip that Chat Noir knows who I am. Then she figured out that I know who Chat Noir is."

Adrien leaped up in surprise, knocking the table with his knee, "_What?_ Nino, she's going to figure me out!"

Nino held both hands out in a placating motion. "No she won't! She was about to head down that path but when I asked her to stop, she did."

Adrien pinched the bridge of his nose, "Nino..."

"I swear! She understands that your secret identity is important. I mean, she's Rena, she gets it!"

Plagg huffed impatiently, "Well, she'd better. Adrien, sit down, it's your bet. Nino, you only gave me two cards. Let's get back to the game."

"Oh, sorry Plagg," Nino said as he tossed him a card.

Adrien knocked on the table distractedly. "I check."

Plagg said, "Me too. Call 'em. I got a pair of tens."

Adrien perked up, "Oh nice! I have a pair of kings!" Adrien was beaming as he pulled in his pile of cheese puffs. He threw one back into the middle and started dealing. "You know Nino, not only can we not tell her who I am, but we also can't tell her I know who she is."

Plagg picked up his hand, threw in four cheese puffs, and said, "That's right, bros before hoes!"

Adrien goggled and yelled, "Damn it Plagg, no!" while Nino yelled over him, "_Not_ bros before hoes, Plagg!"

Nino threw in his four cheese puffs. "And I raise four," he said scowling at Plagg, who rolled his eyes.

Adrien looked at the pot and shrugged, then shoved in 8 cheese puffs. "No, it's just that if she knows I know who she is, it will be that much easier for her to figure out that I know Nino well enough to know who Nino is dating, and that narrows her scope significantly. How many cards, Plagg?"

"Three. She's going to figure it out. It's only a matter of time, you know."

Nino sighed. "Two. Probably. Is it that big a deal, though?"

Adrien dealt their cards and his own. "If we can't prevent her from knowing forever, there's not anything we can do about that. However, I would like to put that off as long as we can. The fewer people who know, the less likely Hawk Moth will find out and the safer we all are. If her identity is compromised, that would be dangerous for her - and the last thing I want - but she doesn't even have her Miraculous with her at all times, and if Hawk Moth _were _to get it, it would still just be a tool to get to mine and Ladybug's."

Plagg pushed five cheese puffs into the center. Nino and Adrien both matched his bet.

Adrien continued. "Whereas if my identity is compromised, One, I do have my Miraculous on me at all times, so that's a bit of a different situation, and two, Hawk Moth would be halfway to game over. I'm sorry I know Alya's identity, but we really have to keep mine as secret as possible for as _long_ as possible. Call 'em. I've just got a pair of threes."

Nino looked at Plagg as he dropped his cards on the table, "Can you beat a pair of queens?"

Plagg snickered. "Well, that depends on your kickers." Plagg dropped his cards to show a pair of queens, followed by ace, king, and five.

Nino looked back at his own pair of queens, followed by king, ten, and nine. "Damn it!" he shouted while Plagg collected the pot.

Adrien decided to take a turn dealing for Plagg and started shuffling. "I just think it's hilarious that Ladybug picked Alya, and then _you!_" He began to deal the next hand as though Plagg were the dealer.

Nino nodded and said, "Yeah, I mean Alya made herself really available, I guess, and then I got pulled in when I had to help save Alya. So it happened naturally enough." Nino pushed three cheese puffs in, then Adrien threw in four. Plagg and Nino both matched him. "Three please," Nino said, and then rearranged his new hand.

Adrien dealt his own draw cards and said, "How many, Plagg?" Plagg tossed three cards down and Adrien replaced them before continuing, "It's just hilarious that Ladybug picked two people I'm actually close to, and it's not like there are a ton of those!"

Plagg said, "Hey, I need another."

Adrien looked and saw Plagg was short a card and tossed him another, "Sorry. But anyway, who is she going to pick next? _Marinette_?"

Plagg guffawed and started coughing. Once he could breathe some he said, "Sorry, uh. She's just such a klutz, you know? Anyway, your bet, Nino."

Nino said, "I check. Don't pick on Marinette, she's not always a klutz, it's just worse around, um… Your bet, Adrien."

Adrien pushed in four cheese puffs, "Yeah, Plagg. She may be a bit clumsy, but she's also really nice and very talented. And smart."

Plagg shook his head and chuckled while he also pushed in four cheese puffs.

Nino throws his cards face down on the table and said, "I fold."

Plagg grinned and said, "Call em." Adrien and Plagg both dropped their cards on the table, showing Adrien's pair of tens and Plagg's three of a kind Queens.

Adrien put his face in his hands and groaned, "Seriously?" While Plagg gleefully collected his winnings. Adrien folded his arms and scowled at Plagg, then tilted his head slightly. "Wait a minute." He pointed at the end of the table where there was a small amount of what looked like black ash. "Plagg, is that _cataclysm dust_?"

Plagg looked over at where Adrien was pointing, "What?" He whipped his head back to Adrien, "No!"

Adrien's eyes blew wide, "You cataclysmed a card, didn't you?"

"No!"

Nino watched the exchange like a tennis match as Adrien shouted, "I bet you all of my cheese puffs that there are only fifty one cards left in this deck!"

"I did not cataclysm a card! There are not fifty one cards in the deck!"

"Bet on it?!"

"Yes!"

Adrien's head whipped to face Nino. "Nino, count!"

Nino stood up and picked up the deck. He looked at his friend and the kwami and then began counting the cards. When he finished, he looked up at Plagg and glared. Then he sighed and said, "There are forty seven cards."

In one swift move, Plagg shoved his cheese puffs into his bag, then darted to Adrien's bag and scooped his up too before either of the boys could move. He then flew up to the second floor of the room, carrying both bags, and cackled the whole way.

Author's Note:

Plagg's hand in the practice round was the black aces and the black eights with the queen of hearts as a kicker. This is commonly referred to as, "The Dead Man's Hand," made famous as the generally accepted hand Wild Bill Hickock was playing when he was shot and killed.


	4. Chapter 4

The first thing Adrien heard was the abrasive sound of his alarm the next morning. His body was just starting to adjust to this week's plan of waking an hour early to get some school work in. Just because he was going to miss a crucial week of school didn't mean that his father wouldn't still expect straight A's from him. After all, _Agrestes achieve excellence in every endeavor, and anything less is beneath them, _or so he had been told. This morning, Adrien wanted an opinion on the issue from some other Agreste, who or wherever they may be. Then again, even if he got one, it was his father's opinion that mattered, so maybe that would just be more frustrating at this point.

"Make the thing stop, and go back to sleep," whined Plagg.

"Nope. Too busy achieving excellence," Adrien replied ruefully. Then he took a quick shower to help him wake up, dressed for school, and pulled up his assignments on his computer. Adrien knew his father was still looking for excuses to pull him from public school, and Adrien wasn't going to let him have one. He was going to continue to get those straight A's to spite the man. Then maybe his father would see. If Adrien could pull this off, maybe his father would even be proud of him or, at the very least, respect him. It was a good time to work on the history lesson. He was in a French Revolution kind of mood.

Once he squeezed all the productivity that he could out of his morning, he headed downstairs to the car. Nathalie was there to see him off.

"Adrien, I'm glad you seemed to be having a good time, but I think it would be best if in the future you and Mr. Lahiffe find some quieter activities. I would hate for your father to find a reason to put an end to these visits."

Abashed, Adrien's hand jumped to the back of his neck. It was a reflex - muscle memory really, and he knew it. In his early days of modeling, that was every photographer's go to instruction for coaxing "charming," "endearing," "_innocent,_" and the like from his image. It became a nervous habit when it reached the point where his arm would move on its own, and suddenly shutters clicked, lights flashed, and everyone in the room was happier with him. Adrien rarely ever used the move with intent, but he knew it was flattering and made him look absolutely harmless.

"I'm sorry Nathalie, Nino was just teaching me a game. We didn't disturb Father, did we?"

Nathalie sighed and her expression softened slightly. "No, Adrien, he was very focused on the upcoming ad campaign, so I don't think he noticed."

Adrien smiled. "Great, thanks Nathalie!" He headed for the door at a jog and said over his shoulder, "I'll be more careful!" and went to his waiting ride.

When he got to the school Adrien trotted up to Nino and Alya. "Hey guys! Nino, did you bring it?"

"It's right here, dude." Nino pulled a small black MP3 player from his pocket. "All loaded up with just the right Adrien mood music to get your learning juices flowing. Are you sure you're going to be able to listen in class?"

"Actually yeah, once I explained the situation all of the teachers were really understanding. They're surprisingly happy to help me get whatever edge I can as long as it's not cheating. Thanks for helping me out with this."

"Don't forget you're helping me out too, dude. You make an excellent data point for my science project."

Adrien smirked. "Well, I often make excellent points."

"Oof," Nino put a hand to his chest like he was pained. "Not your best, dude."

Alya slowly shook her head at Adrien, seemingly agreeing with Nino. She tilted her head, furrowing her eyebrows, as she looked at Adrien. "Hey Adrien, look at me," she said as she grabbed his chin, and pointed his face at her instead of waiting on him to do it himself. "Hmm. You've been skimping on sleep, haven't you?"

Adrien rolled his eyes and gently removed her hand, "Yes, a little. I promise I'm not pulling all-nighters, just using my time to its best advantage."

Alya folded her arms across her chest. "Adrien, we all want to see you do well on your midterms, despite your father's terrible planning, but if you start cutting too deep into your sleep time, a lot more is going to go wrong than just your grades. It's not healthy."

Nino raised an eyebrow at her and said, "And what time did you post the most recent article on the Ladyblog? I believe that time stamp was 2:47 AM."

Alya spun and turned on Nino. "That was just one night! This week." She raised her finger. "My point stands!"

Nino chuckled, "I don't disagree, I'd just like to see both of you keep that in mind."

Alya waved off her boyfriend and turned back to Adrien. "Hey, did you get breakfast? Marinette's already grabbing something for me on her way through the bakery. I'm sure it wouldn't be any trouble to grab an extra something."

Adrien thought about it. He had forgotten to grab breakfast. That was unusual, but he had pushed his studying to the last minute. "Maybe. But only if it really isn't any trouble for her." Adrien grinned. "She's not always the best at mornings. I don't want to complicate it for her."

Alya laughed. "You're not wrong there. I'll shoot her a text and make sure she knows not to go too far out of her way."

"Thanks, Alya. I'm going to head on in, I may be able to get some homework done before class starts." With that, Adrien made a show of putting in each earbud, and then firing up the playlist. He patted Nino on the back, smiled widely, and jogged into the building.

The first class of the day was French literature. Adrien had about ten minutes before the beginning of class, so he started on the reading assignment for next Wednesday. As it was only a reading assignment, it was a productive use of his time, but not labor intensive, so a good easy start for the day. Before he knew it he was startled to find Rose and Juleka walking in. He smiled at the pair and said, "Oh, hey guys, is class about to start already?"

Rose waved to him, "Hey Adrien. Not yet, you still got a little time left. I actually had some work I wanted to have a moment for too."

Juleka smiled and said, "Yeah, we won't bother you this morning."

Adrien nodded, "You're not a bother, Juleka, but thanks!" His teachers weren't the only ones who knew about Adrien's predicament. Somebody had informed the whole class. It was a little embarrassing at first, but it was kind of nice when everyone made it clear that they were pulling for him to succeed. Some even offered to help in whatever capacity they could.

Adrien kept reading with the time he had left, but it wasn't long before he noticed more people at the doorway. He looked up to see Alya walk in followed closely by Marinette. Alya practically crooned, "Hey Adrien! I told you my girl would come through with breakfast!" She then sidestepped abruptly, putting Marinette suddenly in front, surprising the poor girl.

Marinette froze for a moment, holding a small paper bag in both hands. Her cheeks pinked while she took the two steps remaining between her and his desk, and placed the bag on top. She looked up at him with big blue eyes and said, "I um, I grabbed a quiche for you, because I figured the protein would help more than post, uh, most of the other pastries."

"Thanks Marinette! It smells delicious!" Not wanting to still be eating when class started, he eagerly bit into it. Immediately his senses were flooded by the warm comforting egg concoction, punctuated generously by salty bacon. He felt the perfectly flaky crust leave crumbs on his lip, so he brushed them off with his finger, then licked them off for good measure.

"You're welcome, Adrien." She said with a smile while she watched him eat the small egg pie. She sounded a little dazed. _Is anyone getting enough sleep?_

Alya grabbed Marinette by the shoulders and said, "Alright girl, let's go sit down," as she steered her friend up the steps and to her desk.

Adrien's day was spent meticulously rationing his minutes. He did his reading assignments for the day before or after classes. He made sure his lunch was something he could eat one-handed so he could better do his homework.

Physics class was something of a reprieve, since Ms. Mendeleiev, in an unusually generous gesture, was allowing them to work on their projects. She opted not to limit the projects to physics. "If it's science and piques your interest, by all means, show me what you've got," she had said.

Adrien was at the construction phase of his project, so he spent the class time meticulously shaving styrofoam into the shapes he measured out for each airfoil while listening to the noises of the rest of the class busy at their activities. There was the drone of Nino's voice as he conducted interviews in the back while calibrating each classmate to their own personal mood music for productivity. There was the whirr of a power drill and the clatter of small objects hitting the floor while Marinette constructed something complicated and invariably dropped small parts. Max was conversing with Markov and recording the robot's progress while Markov conducted his own experiment with plant growth. Next to him stood Kim, sticking his tongue out while building a volcano out of clay. It was an oddly calming flurry of activity. While he started working on the balsa wood frames that would support each foil, he reflected on the day and felt his determination rise to make this plan work.

—

Alya was having a slow day. Mr. DuBois wasn't a particularly boring teacher, and she was paying attention, but geometry could only get so interesting. She looked over at Adrien and shook her head. He had his earbuds in and was hunched over his own work. Nino told her earlier in the week that Adrien had worked out an arrangement with Mr. DuBois. Every day, he quietly worked another two days worth of lessons and had his work checked the following day so Mr. DuBois could be sure he wasn't teaching himself anything incorrectly. As long as he wasn't disruptive, and as long as he continued to show he understood the material, he could listen to his "productive music" and ignore class. _That boy is going to burn himself out. At least this week is almost over. I hope he can manage to let his brain relax a little while he's busy posing for the cameras next week._

"Excuse me Mr. DuBois!" Marinette said as she shot out of her seat and looked more than a little anxious. "May I please go use the restroom?"

Mr. DuBois sighed as he paused writing a function onto the board. "Yes, of course Marinette. Please don't dawdle this time?"

"Yes sir, thank you!" She said as she hurried down the stairs and out the door, somehow not knocking anything over on the way.

Alya chuckled when she heard Nino quietly mutter, "Bladder like a thimble," where no one else could hear. Then she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. As discreetly as she could, Alya took it from her pocket and checked the screen. There was an alert on the Ladyblog. A supervillain was sighted less than a block from the school. She felt a surge of adrenaline as her hand shot in the air. Mr. DuBois glanced at her and held a hand up forestalling her question as he checked his own phone, then set it down and addressed her.

"No you may not be excused Alya, not for the bathroom, a drink of water or anything else. Your journalistic integrity will just have to take the hit." Alya groaned as she slumped back into her seat.

Mr. DuBois completed writing the function and said, "And that is how you get the function in the provided example. Any questions?" He took a moment to look around the room, and when no one responded he said, "Work on problems one through eight, and we'll see how everyone does." Alya closed her eyes and tried to will away her irritation at being so close to the action and unable to do anything about it. When she opened them, most of the class was working on the assignment. Adrien, however, was at Mr. DuBois' desk having a hushed conversation with the teacher, who after a moment nodded and waved him away. At that, Adrien quickly and quietly left the room.

_Now what, Adrien? _Alya pushed her blonde friend from her mind as she tried to do the work. By the time she finished the second question she noticed Nino's knee was bouncing rapidly. For a lot of guys, that would be insignificant, but Nino wasn't exactly the sort who had trouble sitting still. Halfway through the fourth question she heard Nino blow out a long exaggerated breath. A moment later, while she corrected an error on number five, Nino took his hat off, ran his hand through his hair and put it back on. Alya checked Mr. DuBois to confirm that he wasn't paying attention, and she glanced over Nino's shoulder at his work. Nino was only about halfway through the first question.

Outside the window, a swarm of magical ladybugs flew by. Alya drummed her fingers on the desk, trying to expel the agitation of having missed it, and moved on to number six. In her peripheral vision she could still see Nino's knee still bouncing quietly, but faster. She glanced to see his attention trained on the door, and no progress on his assignment. Halfway through problem seven, Adrien sheepishly poked his head through the door, looked at Nino and flashed a huge grin. He quietly loped over to his seat and the boys shared a fist bump once Adrien was in his spot.

Alya finished up her assignment and was free to just watch the boys. There was something about Nino's behavior that tickled her memory. His knee had stopped bouncing and though he hurried through the assignment, he was visibly more relaxed. Marinette ducked into the room and took her seat, and Alya absentmindedly pointed out the assignment to her friend, when she noticed that Nino was looking over at Adrien more frequently than usual. Then she remembered their recent conversation. "_Alya, I need you to stop... Please, for the good of Paris and the safety of its heroes, please just let this one go."_

Alya let out a small gasp and her eyes widened. The sound drew Adrien's attention and he looked over at her with a questioning look. She forced her face into a wide, unnatural-feeling smile, and gave a double thumbs up for good measure. Adrien smiled in return, and in that moment, she saw it: Adrien was wearing Chat Noir's face without a mask. He then turned his attention back to his tablet, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was Chat Noir, then put his earbuds back in and tried to salvage what he could of his interrupted class time.

—

With his attention being completely derailed by his best bro running off to jump between _Ladybug herself_ and Hawk Moth only knows what, Nino was only able to finish the first three problems before Mr. DuBois called up several students to demonstrate them on the board. Relieved to not be among them, Nino found himself constantly looking over at Adrien, searching for any scratches or bruises the little ladybugs may have missed. He knew they never missed anything. He still felt better making sure. The really unsettling part was that it was difficult to see if there was any damage because Adrien was already hunched back over next Thursday's assignment, grinding away at it. Save Paris from monsters. Learn two weeks worth of school work in one week. Make perfect grades. Adrien was a smart and talented guy, but surely he had limits, right?

The bell rang signaling the end of class and the start of lunch break. Adrien was too focused to hear it. Nino tapped his shoulder, and Adrien removed an earbud as he looked up at Nino, "Hmm?"

Nino glanced over his whole face while he had the chance as he said, "I'm going to go grab a couple of lunch trays and a table in the cafeteria. Meet me there when you're done with meeting," he waved a hand around, "whichever teacher you need to meet with right now."

"Sounds good, Nino, thanks," Adrien chuckled.

Nino grabbed his books and left the room. When he got to the cafeteria, he looked around and found their preferred table empty. It was a booth against the wall, away from the busiest part of the room. It was quaint, with a little fake ivy arrangement mounted to the wall above it, like the other booths. While it wasn't exactly secluded, it was better than most options. He was a little early, so he got his own tray of food, and still had time to get there before anybody claimed it. He set his tray down and collected the things he knew his friend liked. He managed to nab an extra pudding for him and headed back to the table. He put his bag on the seat between himself and the wall and settled in. He had just started thumbing through his phone when his bag said, "Psst."

Nino slowly looked over at his bag and whispered, "Plagg?"

Plagg poked his head out slightly and said, "Are you going to start yelling?"

Nino rolled his eyes and looked back at his phone again. "No. What are you doing here?"

Plagg settled himself where Nino could see him, but a passer by likely wouldn't. "Look, I kinda wanted to talk to you a little about… that day."

"Pft, you mean the day you threatened to kill me? I remember it."

"Yeah. _Anyway,_ the thing is, Adrien needs _more_ allies, not fewer. Killing you would have honestly been counterproductive. Before we met, I had heard you and your girlfriend talking about Adrien when he's not around, and well… he could really use more people paying attention like that. He's pushing himself too hard, and really has no idea how to take it easy. His dad knows just what buttons to push, and thinks that's a reason to push them. If that jackass keeps this up, he's going to get Adrien akumatized, and then where would we all be?"

Nino looked down at the kwami and realized that Plagg was scared. It was a little unsettling. Nino took a deep breath and sighed it out. He had a point. "You and I will do what we can to help him decompress. I don't know what I'll be able to do a lot of the time, but try to keep me in the loop if things are going south. How much access do you have to that tablet? Can you set up a chat program on it?"

"Already done."

Nino raised an eyebrow at him. "Who do you chat with?"

Plagg shrugged. "Mostly Wayzz."

The corners of Nino's mouth turned down in consideration, then he nodded. "Yeah, okay. That could work." The two sat in silence for a moment, then Nino whispered, "Can I get Wayzz's screen name?"

"No."

_*clack* _The sound of a tray being roughly set on the table made Nino startle and look up, to see Alya. "Nino, we need to talk." She sat down next to him and fixed him with an expression that looked like she was just barely keeping herself from combusting. She looked around to make sure no one was close enough to hear, and whispered, "It's Adrien, isn't it?"

Nino's heart rate spiked, and he hoped he looked confused as he responded, "No, what made you think that?"

Alya threw her fists in the air and shouted, "I knew it!"

Nino dove for his girlfriend and clapped his hand over her mouth. He raised his eyebrows at her, as if to say, "Really?"

She winced, pulled his hand away from her face, and whispered, "Sorry."

"How did you figure it out?"

"I swear I wasn't trying to, but the way you were sweating bullets while he was gone during the akuma attack and then acted like a mother hen when he got back was a pretty big clue." She grabbed her soda off her tray and drank from the straw while she watched his reaction.

Nino sighed, frustrated with himself. "Yeah, I guess I need to work on that."

Just then Adrien slid into the booth in front of the tray meant for him. "Two puddings! Thanks, Nino!" He sat across from the pair and started eating. "Hey Alya, how's it going?"

Alya bounced on the booth seat as she shrieked like a kettle as quietly as she could, "Eeeeee! Oh my God, that's the ring!" she whispered enthusiastically.

Adrien put down his fork and gave Nino an exasperated look.

Nino raised his hands, keeping his voice low said, "I didn't tell her anything. I told her it wasn't you. It's not my fault she's like this."

Alya covered her mouth with her hand, and her forehead wrinkled as she stared at Adrien. She moved her hand away from her mouth and said, "Oh my God, it's really you," and put her hand right back over her mouth. Her eyes welled up, then two tears streaked down her face and over her hand.

Adrien frowned and said, "Hey, hey, what's the matter?"

Alya sniffled, "I'm sorry," she let out a small sob, "I've just seen what happens to you, like up close," she moved her glasses and wiped the tears away, "kind of a lot. You know? With the Ladyblog? It's just so much more personal knowing that was you." She took a deep breath and fanned her face. "Adrien, you gotta be more careful." She let out a sharp wet laugh.

Adrien watched her for a moment with a look of awe. His eyes and nose pinked a little, "Hey, it's okay Alya. I've got _her_ back so she can have mine. I don't regret a moment of it, and I wouldn't give it up for the world." Alya's eyes narrowed at him, and he put his hands up in a placating gesture, "But I will strive to be more careful when I can." Adrien rubbed the back of his neck and looked at his food. "Um, since we're on the subject, it's only fair to let you know that I know about your um, _flute _hobby."

Alya's eyes went wide and she whipped her head toward Nino, "He knew my identity and you didn't _tell_ me?"

A small voice muffled by fabric and coming from Adrien's direction said, "Bros before hoes."

Adrien reached up and smacked the right side of his chest lightly and said, "Please ignore my shirt. Ow!" He rubbed the spot where hit himself and scowled. "He bit me."

Alya barked a laugh and whispered, "Is that… That's the little cat, isn't it? Oh my gosh, _can I see him?_"

Adrien winced. "Now's not really the time for introductions, and besides, it's not like I'm hiding my sweet pet kitten in here."

Nino snorted. "No, it is _not_."

Alya huffed in disappointment, then folded her arms over her chest and looked at Adrien. "Okay, but still, how long have you known about… my flute, and why didn't you tell me?"

"Ever since that day we all went swimming together. The way you two acted, the flute player couldn't have been anybody else." Adrien shrugged. "As far as why… Well, should we have told you that Adrien knew, or that the guy in the snazzy black suit knew? Either way, it just would have been more clues for you to figure me out. Not that you needed them."

Alya slumped in her seat. "Yeah, that makes sense. But you're right, I didn't need them. Though now, I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't figure it out a _lot _sooner."

Nino chuckled. "Hey, I founded that club. We're accepting new members."

"Hey, Alya!" Marinette called from across the room, as she walked over to the table with her tray. She had startled the three of them, but by the time she walked up to them Adrien scooted over to give her room. Marinette paused for the briefest moment and then quickly sat, just the slightest bit pink. Nino was proud of her. Once her hands were off her tray, they fluttered around as she gestured and said, "Alya, I looked everywhere for it, and I'm telling you, you did not leave your jacket at my house."

"Oh, I'm so sorry girl! Thank you for looking for me, I just don't know where I put that thing."

Marinette took her fork and stabbed her pasta. "No big deal, it was worth a look." She put the forkful in her mouth and rolled her eyes in thought as she chewed. "It needs a little, uh…" and she waved towards the fake ivy arrangement on the wall.

Alya frowned slightly and took a bite of her own pasta. "Mm. You're right. Help from Maman is on the way." Nino shifted to give her space as Alya stood and leaned over him to reach into the base of the arrangement and pulled out a shaker of seasoning. She liberally shook it over her own food, and passed it to Marinette, who gratefully took it.

Nino nodded as he took his turn with the shaker because they weren't wrong. "I'll admit, lunch has gotten a lot better since you started hiding your mom's blend in the foliage."

Adrien shrugged and also took a turn with the shaker, then said, "You know, I saw somebody else using it the other day when they got this table first."

Alya collected the shaker from Adrien and nestled it back into its usual hiding spot. "I don't mind people using it, as long as they put it back."

The conversation turned to the upcoming science fair. While Marinette regaled them with her tale of losing a crucial ball bearing during her second attempt at building a Rube Goldberg machine, Nino made eye contact with Adrien and Alya, and it was clear by their expressions both of them knew what kind of bullet they dodged that Marinette didn't show up sooner, and that none of them had to scramble to change the topic. Marinette could really be helpful, in her own, sometimes clumsy, way.


	5. Chapter 5

Adrien was a little bit giddy. The day of the science fair had finally arrived, and not a moment too soon. Since the ad campaign was scheduled to start the following day, beginning the week he would be absent while everyone else was in class preparing for midterms. The whole school was involved. There was a cacophony of excited chatter and the school's central courtyard was transformed with rows and rows of tables full of colorful trifold boards, machines, chemicals, insects, plants, graphs, scales, and all manner of expressions of the scientific method. The event was organized in sections by grade and then by class. Adrien had already strolled through the other sections earlier just to see what interesting things some of the other classes had come up with.

According to the itinerary, Ms. Mendeleiev's class would begin presenting in half an hour, so they had all moseyed back to their own section to be available to the judges and make sure everything was in order. Adrien made sure for the fifth time that each of the airfoils glided smoothly up and down on their runners. His presentation board was impeccable. He was ready to wow the judges with his knowledge of the Bernoulli Principle.

Adrien had been forced to make some modifications from the original design. Unfortunately, a small fan didn't move enough air for the desired effect. During their time to work on them in class, Marinette had suggested a leaf blower with the nozzle removed, and to his relief it worked wonders.

While Adrien was making sure the leaf blower was properly plugged in for his presentation, Kim came over and said, "Hey, that's looking pretty good! Do those wing things actually fly?"

Adrien grinned and said, "Yeah, watch!" He turned on the leaf blower for just a brief moment, and the airfoil it was pointed toward lifted and made a clacking sound as it reached the top of the runner. It made another when it fell back to the bottom once the wind supply was cut off.

Kim's face lit up. "Hey, that is really neat! Did you see my volcano?" Kim gestured to his model volcano across the aisle. Max shook his head as he approached the two of them, and said, "Kim, you do realize that the chemical reaction that occurs when combining acids and bases, while somewhat volatile, has nothing to do with volcanology, right?"

Kim answered, "Yeah, I know," and beckoned Max and Adrien to follow him to his project. "The project is really about the chemical reaction. I just wanted to build a volcano." He gestured at his clay model.

Nino wandered over to join them and said, "I like the little trees at the base."

Kim grinned proudly. "Thanks, me too."

Adrien was starting to get a little nervous. He wasn't concerned, he knew his project was solid. The anticipation was just really starting to build. He glanced around at a few of the other projects in his class. Marinette had some kind of crazy contraption. He was looking forward to seeing it in action, since he knew how much effort she had been putting into it. The most eye catching project was Chloe's. She literally had a gem encrusted presentation board, and it was covered in pictures of Chloe and her neatly manicured nails. In front of it was the girl herself absolutely bubbling over with excitement. Seeing her in such a good mood for something class related was a pleasant surprise, so he couldn't help but walk over to her and see what had her spirits so high.

When she saw him approaching, she threw herself at him for a tight hug, "Oh, Adrikins! I cannot wait for you to see my presentation!"

"Hey, Chloe!" Adrien squeezed her in return for a brief moment, politely untangled himself, and said, "What did you do your project on?"

Chloe gave him a mock pout and said, "Now, no spoilers! I want you to see it when the judges do. I am going to blow everyone out of the water," she smiled up at him, "So don't be too disappointed when you don't win."

Adrien chuckled, "I'm sure you're going to do great, Chloe."

Chloe's eyes snagged on something behind Adrien and her smile faltered. Adrien turned to look and saw Nathalie approaching them. His heart jumped in his throat as he thought that maybe his father really did manage to make it, even if just in tablet form.

He bounded over to Nathalie and asked her, "Is father going to watch? You got here just in time, the judges are supposed to start on our class in about twenty minutes."

Nathalie looked at him and frowned. Her eyebrows crinkled as she said, "I'm sorry Adrien, that's not why I came. I'm afraid you're needed at the fountain at Place des Vosges. The photographer wanted to get started on the outdoor shots since the forecast is better today than it will be for the rest of the week."

It took a moment for Adrien to fully process what she had just said, and by the time he did he felt sick to his stomach. "_Now?_" Adrien turned and looked at his project board and his classmates, some of which were watching, looking concerned. "He's making me go now? I've worked on this for weeks. He _knows_ that. Can't it just wait an hour or two? I can probably get the judges to do mine first in the class, so I'll be ready to leave in 45 minutes!"

Nathalie's face hardened as she looked at him. "Adrien, you're making this very difficult for me. I can't make that call. You know the Gabriel brand comes first."

At that, Adrien's stomach felt full of lead, and his eyes began to prickle. "Right. How could I forget?" He took a deep breath and swallowed the disappointment down. "Can I pack up my project?"

Nathalie considered for a moment and then nodded. "Hurry."

Adrien walked back over to his projected and started dismantling the parts. He didn't make it very far when he realized his hands were shaking, and he had too much adrenaline in his system to really do it correctly. Nino came up next to him and started carefully taking things apart and setting them aside in an organized manner. As he worked, Nino said, "Dude, I got this. I'll take care of it and get it back to the class. If for whatever reason it can't stay there, I'll bring it home with me. We'll find a way to make up for this, alright?"

Adrien felt a tear he didn't manage to suppress fall down his cheek. He wiped it away and said, "Thanks, Nino." But he didn't know how they were possibly going to make this feel okay.

—

Nino yawned while he walked into his room at the end of the day, took his hat off, and threw it in the general direction of his desk. He took his glasses off with one hand and rubbed his eye with the other, and let himself collapse onto his bed with his feet hanging off the side. The science fair had been long. When it ended Nino tried texting Adrien several times, hoping the photoshoot had ended, but he knew that as long as Adrien was still on company time he was not reachable. Watching Adrien get escorted off of the school grounds a few minutes before the class was to begin presenting sucked a lot of the joy out of the event for all of them. Several people mentioned that they wished there were a way to do something for Adrien. Marinette had mentioned an interesting idea, if the others would get on board, but Nino was spent and not in a planning frame of mind.

Just when Nino was contemplating closing his mouth before he drooled on the blanket he heard his phone ding. He shifted his hip so he could reach in his pocket and pulled out the phone. When he looked at the screen he felt the bite of disappointment that it wasn't Adrien, but then noticed that it wasn't a text, it was a message in his chat program from someone he didn't recognize.

_Gozer: Nino. I need your help. He's done with the shoot and back home, but he's like a zombie._

Nino stared at his phone for a moment. It was Plagg. It had to be. He typed out a response.

_Wifi'sDJ: What do you mean you need help? Is he just really tired? I'm sure he's gotta be. Is your screen name from Ghostbusters?_

_Gozer: He's exhausted, but it's not just that, he hasn't spoken except when a response was expected of him from the photoshoot personnel. If I try to talk to him, he just looks at me with kind of a blank stare. Its creepy. Yeah, it's from Ghostbusters. What of it?_

_Wifi'sDJ: I'll try to give him a call. Nothing. It just surprised me._

Nino pulled up Adrien's number and called. It rang. And rang. And rang. And went to voicemail.

"Damn it." Nino pulled up their text conversation and sent a message.

_Nino: Hey Dude! I know it's been a crazy long day, but it'd be really cool to confirm you're still alive. Just, you know. So I can sleep._

Nino waited. After a couple minutes, he considered sending another text, when Adrien responded.

_Adrien: Not dead. Don't really feel like talking._

_Nino: Hey! Thanks for the confirmation. I bet you probably need some rest. We're still on for tomorrow afternoon, though right?_

_Adrien: So far. But how the hell should I know? I might not be the best person to hang out with tomorrow anyway. Maybe we should just skip it._

_Nino: Nope. No skipping. I'm working on a plan that may pique your interest. If your schedule shuts me out tomorrow, then I can execute the plan the next time. I haven't worked out the details, so no spoilers, but you are going to like it, and it is going to happen._

Nino waited a few minutes for a response. Did he push him too hard? A text finally showed up.

_Adrien: Alright. We'll see how it goes. Have a good day at school tomorrow._

_Nino: I'll try. Don't forget to be pretty tomorrow._

_Adrien: lol_

_Adrien: I'm sure someone will remind me._

The next morning Nino texted Marinette as soon as his alarm went off in an attempt to give her plenty of time to see the text and respond. He'd learned not to expect too much from Marinette first thing in the morning.

_Nino: Ms. Class Representative, I need to ask for your help with something, do you think you can show up early enough for us to talk?_

He got up, got himself dressed, and went downstairs for some breakfast. He went back upstairs and was brushing his teeth when his phone buzzed. He continued brushing his teeth while he checked it.

_Marinette: K_

_Marinette: Were? _

_Marinette: Where?_

_Nino: Out front is good._

_Marinette: K_

Nino rinsed his mouth, trotted down the steps, grabbed his backpack, and headed out the door.

When Nino got to school Alya was already there. "Hey, beautiful," he said with a smile.

"Hey, yourself," she said, then kissed his cheek. Have you heard from Adrien?"

"Yeah, I did last night. It didn't really sound like his day got any better."

Alya frowned and shook her head. "That was seriously not okay."

"I know, but we're going to try to fix it, hopefully."

Just then, Marinette walked up to the pair. "Hey Nino, what did you need?"

"You mentioned an idea yesterday about having sort of a science fair do-over with the class for Adrien's benefit. How feasible do you think that would be?"

Marinette hummed and squinted at the space in front of her. "It shouldn't be too hard, at least not for most of us. Several people said they'd hold on to their projects just in case. When do you want to try it?"

"Do you think this afternoon will work? After school?"

"Oh geez, _this_ afternoon?" She shifted from foot to foot. "Do you mean right after school, because some people are going to need to go home and get their projects and they'll need time for that. I mean, several people could potentially get theirs during lunch, maybe." She began pacing. "Also, we gotta figure out _where_ to do it. We can't do it in the same place as the actual fair, since the fencing team shifted their practice to Mondays and they use the courtyard. I wonder if he'll be fencing today? That would depend on how late his shoot runs today, I guess. Anyway, whether he's there or not, once the fencing team is done with the space the school locks its doors, so it will have to be someplace else." At this point Nino wasn't sure Marinette was still addressing him. She continued, "We need open space and we need access to electricity for some of the projects, Adrien's in particular." She turned and looked at the two of them. "For my birthday party at the park, did you use a generator for the DJ setup and lights, or is there an outlet?"

Nino's eyes lit up. "There's actually an outlet there! That would be a great spot! I was hoping we wouldn't do it immediately after school anyway. I need a little time to get over to his house and then get him out. An hour after school would be enough time to get Adrien there. I hope. Probably."

Marinette raised an eyebrow at him, then nodded. She pulled out her phone. "Nathalie mentioned the weather wouldn't be as good for the rest of the week yesterday, so let me just check and make sure there isn't rain in the forecast… _Really, Mr. Agreste?"_ She lowered her phone and muttered some choice words under her breath, then looked at Nino and Alya. "It's going to be a little overcast, and minimal wind. Which is actually really good for _my_ project. I think we can make that work. I'll talk to everybody and make sure they're all ready."

Nino smiled. "I knew I could count on you, Marinette!"

She chuckled. "Don't celebrate yet, wait until it actually happens!"

By the end of the day, Marinette had figured out a plan on how to get the whole class and their science fair projects to the park at the appointed time. Once class let out, Nino walked to the Agreste Mansion and texted Adrien along the way. He got no immediate response, so Nino figured he was probably still working. He sat down in front of the keypad by the front gate and tried to look natural, waving at the occasional passerby.

After about fifteen minutes, he got a text from Adrien. He was on his way. 10 minutes later, Nino was startled by the sound of the opening gate. He stood up just in time to wave awkwardly at Adrien's bodyguard as he drove up the driveway. He ran through the gate after the car as Adrien was getting out.

The two fell in step together and went inside. Nino grinned and asked, "Hey dude, how was the shoot?"

Adrien groaned and pulled himself up the steps to his room. "Exhausting. And I'm hungry. I just want to eat something and not think for the rest of the day." He shoved his door open and collapsed, sitting on his couch, and covered his eyes with the crook of his elbow.

Nino closed the door behind them. "Hmm, that's… inconvenient."

Plagg wordlessly left the folds of Adrien's shirt and headed for the cheese fridge, nodding at Nino on the way by. Adrien slouched further into the couch. "Sorry for inconveniencing you." He peeked out from under his elbow with one eye. "What about my exhaustion is inconvenient?"

Nino smirked and said, "There's a surprise for you at the park."

Adrien dropped his arm and turned his head toward Nino. "Damn it… I love surprises."

Nino nodded gravely. "I know you do, man."

Adrien sighed heavily then leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "There's no way I'm going to get permission to go out today. I'm a little shocked Nathalie didn't call you to cancel."

"So, you're saying you can't think of _any way_ for us to get over to the park?"

Adrien looked over at the cheese fridge, currently holding his kwami. "Plagg, are you catching this conversation?"

Plagg floated through the door. "Yeah, yeah. I heard. Are there any surprises in it for me?"

Nino folded his arms across his chest. "Absolutely. I don't know what yet, but we can come up with something."

Plagg rubbed his chin and said, "Alright, I'm game."

Not five minutes later, Nino was holding on to Chat Noir's shoulders for dear life with his legs wrapped around the hero's waist. Nino was a lot shorter the last time he had a piggyback ride.

While Chat Noir vaulted to the next rooftop he stumbled slightly and said, "Geez, you're unwieldy. Why can't you be smaller, like Marinette? She's a lot easier to carry. We're almost there, don't worry."

Nino was momentarily jarred by the impact of landing. "Oof. Sorry for not being Marinette."

—

Chat Noir found a decent alley close to the park, and set himself and Nino down there. The boys separated and Adrien called off the transformation. They had a couple of blocks to walk, and Adrien was giddy with anticipation. What on earth could the surprise at the park be? A surprise often meant a gift. Was it a gift? Maybe some of the class got together for a picnic again? Was it just a Nino thing, or were others involved? His curiosity was killing him.

They got to the park and, though they were on the other side of the field, Adrien saw them immediately. It looked like the whole class was there at some kind of party with odd decorations. Adrien looked over at Nino, who was grinning ear to ear. "What's going on, Nino? Did you throw me a party?"

Nino chuckled. "Not exactly, but I guess you could call it that."

As they got closer some of the people started waving and shouting at him when they noticed him coming. Then, he realized he wasn't seeing decorations. It was everybody's science fair project, and nestled right in the center was his own.

Mylene shouted, "Come on Adrien! It's the science fair, but better!"

When Adrien and Nino reached the rest of them, Adrien took a moment to bask in the presence of his friends. His mind boggled at the effort they took to put everything together. "This is amazing guys! How did you do this? Oh my gosh, there's _food?_"

Several people laughed and Alya grabbed her best friend around her shoulder and said, "This was Marinette's idea. We all wanted to do something, and hated how you had to miss the actual event, so when Nino was asking for ideas Marinette thought up this whole thing, and her parents were nice enough to supply the snacks." At that Alya grinned wider and stepped away from Marinette to go greet Nino, accidentally shoving Marinette a little towards Adrien in the process.

Adrien's heart swelled looking at the sweet girl. "You really did all this for me?"

Marinette's cheeks pinked as she smiled. She could be really modest at times. "Well, yeah Adrien. The science fair just wasn't you without the same there." Her smile dropped and her eyebrows shot up. "I mean, the same! Without you!" She laughed nervously, "Besides, everyone helped."

Adrien was so overcome he scooped her up into a big hug, buried his face in her shoulder, and said, "Thank you Marinette!" He thought he heard a squeak, but she hugged him back and said, "Of course, any time."

Chloe grabbed him by the shoulder and said, "Adrikins, put her down, I have been waiting all day to show you my project!"

Adrien set Marinette on her feet and caught her by the elbow when she stumbled a little. She wordlessly waved him off and looked anxious about something, so he didn't keep her.

Chloe stood proudly in front of her board and cleared her throat. The rest of the class gathered around, since the first of the presentations was about to begin. When she was content with the level of attention, Chloe announced, "For my project I compared the durability of the top five rated brands of nail polish." She pointed to five bottles of polish, each in turn as she named them, "Technicolor, Colorblaze, Chromeo, Nailed it!, and Sheen." She turned back to the front and folded her hands neatly in front of her. "My hypothesis was that my personal favorite brand, Sheen, would be the most durable on the market. I wore each brand for a full week and took pictures at the end of each week to compare." She scrunched her nose. "But you don't get to see those. Most of them are hideous." She gestured at the board, drawing attention to the selfies taken at a spa showing off fresh manicures. "To minimize variables, I had the same professional manicurist apply the polish." She tossed her hair and grinned as she said, "Claude always does my nails anyway. The results were very surprising to me as Nailed it! turned out to be the most durable brand, followed closely by Chromeo, with Sheen trailing at a distant third. Technicolor and Colorblaze were a _complete_ disaster. So as much as I think the name is utterly ridiculous, I'm happy to announce that Nailed it! is my new favorite nail polish!" Chloe beamed triumphantly, to the applause of her classmates.

After Chloe's presentation, a few people said they wanted to go next. Marinette gathered everyone around and armed with a clipboard and pen, sorted out what order people would continue presenting in. The atmosphere was sort of like the science fair, but the stress of the projects being graded and the competition were removed, leaving behind a class that was there enjoying refreshments and showing each other something they were each proud of. Adrien soaked up every moment. Nino shared his findings on different kinds of music and productivity, and then passed around flash drives for everyone with their own semi-personalized productivity playlist. Mylene regaled them with her tales of composting. Alya showed off the trending nuggets of information as they had been planted in the gossip section of the Ladyblog. Max had allowed Markov to select an experiment, and recorded his own observations of Markov studying plant growth in soils with different pH levels. Watching Markov carefully tend the plants with a custom gardening glove was a little surreal.

"Alright guys," Marinette spoke up over the din, "that just leaves myself and then Adrien! So, right this way, everyone!" The class followed Marinette to a very colorful and complicated looking display. She had four tables set up so that a complicated structure made of random household items and model car tracks created a complex semicircle of contraptions. "For my project, I created a demonstration of simple machines, to show how common and pervasive they are." She gestured to the labeled pictures on her trifold, each with a different color border. "I've assigned a color to each of the different types of simple machines: lever, inclined plane, screw, wheel and axle, wedge, and pulley." She gestured to the contraption on the table. Each piece of the Rube Goldberg machine I've constructed that is a simple machine has been painted it's corresponding color. As you can see, there is very little here that has not been painted." She looked around at her classmates. "Now, since everyone else here has already seen it in action, and I've set the thing off in testing more times than I can count, I think it's only fitting that Adrien be the one to set it off this time!"

Adrien felt like he had won a prize. He felt his face flush with excitement and he said, "Can I really?"

Marinette laughed into her hands, then said, "Yeah, of course Adrien! Just come stand right here," She ushered him into the center of the semicircle and handed him a small silver ball, "and whenever your ready, just drop the ball bearing into this cup."

Adrien weighed the cold metal ball in his hand, briefly glanced around at the set up, curious to see what all it would do. He held the ball over the cup which was high on a post at the leftmost end of the semicircle. When he dropped the ball it plinked into the cup which tipped the post on an axle and set the ball on a mousetrap. The mousetrap snapped, and sent the toy car it was perched upon rolling a short distance and ramming into a standing book, knocking it over. The cascading events continued slowly around the semicircle, sometimes backtracking just to leap ahead. A grape flew from a red spoon, rolling pins did an odd jig with thread tied to the handles, a teakettle was tipped, spilling water all over the table, but just barely floating a paper boat down a short ramp. It was a perfect marriage of chaos and precision all the way around until finally he got to the other end of the semicircle and a tennis ball was launched right over Adrien's head. He turned in time to see it smack into the first contraption on the other end of the semicircle, knocking it clean off the table to be caught by a waiting Marinette, and found it was holding up a banner that unfurled revealing the word "Tada!" and as it did so, the still bouncing tennis ball landed on a cookie sheet covered in confetti and perched half off the table, knocking it on the ground and launching confetti everywhere. While the confetti fluttered down on him, he found it so charming all Adrien could do was laugh.

Alya, giggling behind her phone as she recorded said, "Alright Adrien, now it's your turn! Show us what you got!"

Suddenly Adrien was unexpectedly hit with a wave of nervous anticipation. It wasn't stage fright; he hasn't had that in years. It was that everyone else had worked so hard getting this set up, and presented their own projects a whole second time just to give him this opportunity to show off his project. What if it wasn't as interesting as he thought? Really, the concept was pretty simple, had it been worth all the effort and headache? Couldn't he have made it more impressive? If they didn't like it, was _their_ effort somehow wasted today?

Alya stopped recording. "Adrien, are you doing okay?"

Adrien blinked up at Alya. "Uh yeah, let me just um, look over my set up and make sure it's ready."

The trifold was in great shape. The modified leaf blower was plugged in. There were three styrofoam airfoils Adrien had painstakingly sculpted, each on their vertical runners, one attached at either end. The runners both created structure, holding the airfoil in place, and allowed free movement up and down. When he lifted each of the airfoils by hand the runners moved smoothly, so there would be no friction inhibiting lift. Perfect.

The class had gathered around the display, and Adrien saw the smiles on their faces, helping him relax a bit. Rose beamed as she said, "It just looks so interesting! I can't wait to see what it does!"

That's when a thought hit him. Maybe he didn't have to work so hard to impress his friends. Maybe they were interested anyway. Adrien held onto that thought, and with the hope that he was right, he relaxed.

Adrien took a deep breath and then shared what he did with his friends, "Okay! So, I did my project on the Bernoulli Principle, which states that the faster air moves around an object, the less pressure that air applies to the object. This is the principle that makes lift for birds and airplanes possible." Adrien gestured to one of the three contraptions. "This is an airfoil. As you can see, it kinda looks like a section of an airplane wing. It's curved over the top, and flat on the bottom. If we imagine this airfoil moving forward through the air, the air that gets pushed under out of the way is only slightly jostled, and then has a straight path as the airfoil moves over it, but the air that goes over the top gets pushed further up and then down around this curve, making it's path longer, making the relative speed it moved in relation to the airfoil faster. As I stated earlier, air moving around something faster doesn't apply as much pressure as air moving around something slower, so the relatively slower air underneath pushes it up, with less resistance from above, making flight possible!" He looked around at his classmates, concerned he may have lost a few, but everybody seemed to be following along. Chloe's attention may have been divided between Adrien's project and her nails, but given the subject wasn't about her, he considered that a win.

He continued, "I made three different foils, to test how much lift I could get out of them. One, I made with the same basic proportions used on a typical airplane wing, one with a good bit less curve over the top, and one with more curve over the top. I added a hook to the underside of each one where I hung a little cup like a bucket. With that, I was able to add weight until they wouldn't lift anymore and compare results." Grinning, Adrien looked at the small crowd. "Does anyone want to see?"

Several of them laughed as the class cheered loudly as if it were a sporting event.

Bolstered by the enthusiasm, he set the thinnest of the airfoils in front of the sawed-off leaf blower, and turned it moment the air hit it, the airfoil immediately lifted to the top of its track with a loud _clack_ sound. He then turned off the blower and hung the cup on the hook, added a couple marbles to the cup, and turned it back on again. This time, the foil slowly lifted off its lowest position and almost made it to the top, but not quite. He turned off the blower again, and said, "I expected the one with the middle amount of curve on top to be the best performer, assuming that since that's the standard, it must have the optimum amount of lift, but my hypothesis was disproved when the one with the largest curve was the clear winner."

Adrien adjusted his display to put the most dramatically curved airfoil in front of the blower, then hung the cup from the hook, and put several marbles in the cup. He turned on the blower, and the airfoil traveled upwards at a moderate pace, and thunked when it reached the top.

"And that concludes my project on airfoils and the Bernoulli Principle."

The class erupted with cheers. Alix let out a piercing whistle, Mylene shouted, "That was so cool!" Nino gave him a high five, and then people started asking if they could play with the foils and the blower. Adrien laughed and said, 'Go right ahead, but I'd kinda like to keep it, so be careful."

Once his presentation was over and everyone started just eating and mingling, Adrien started getting antsy to get back home. He snuck out often enough as Chat Noir, but when he wasn't saving the city it was risking getting caught unnecessarily, and possibly making it harder the next time he actually _needed_ to leave. So he made a quick round to thank everyone and say his goodbyes, and Adrien and Nino started the trek back to the mansion.

When they got to the alley they had used last time, there was a restaurant employee dumping trash in a dumpster. It was going to take a little longer, but they kept walking until they could find the next convenient place, which ended up being just a side street with no one around. A moment later, Chat Noir was running over rooftops while struggling a little against Nino's unwieldy arms and legs. They were just a couple houses away when Chat Noir heard a familiar whizzing sound.

Chat Noir winced and said, "Uh oh, that's my Lady."

"Move, move, move." Nino said in his ear.

From behind them Ladybug said, "Uh, guys? What's going on?"

Chat Noir stopped and turned to face her and said,"Hey, Ladybug!"

Nino awkwardly hopped off of his back and stepped in front of Chat Noir, "Hey Ladybug! Chat Noir was just doing me a favor, helping me get my boy Adrien out of the house for a bit."

Ladybug tilted her head slightly, "Okay, but where's Adrien? And Chat, I thought you were too busy for patrols this week."

Chat Noir grinned sheepishly. "I got a little unexpected free time."

Nino waved in the direction they had been going. "Chat Noir brought Adrien back first. Me and the rest of the class were doing a thing for him, so I got Chat Noir to help me sneak him out for a short while, and now he's sneaking us back in." Nino smiled as wide as he could for good measure.

Chat Noir looked at his own feet. Ladybug walked up to Chat Noir and said, "Chaton, I think it's really sweet of you to help them out like this, but I'm not sure it's a good idea to make a habit of sneaking teenagers out of their houses. What would happen if their parents found out you were helping them?"

She was so close, with her big blue eyes full of concern. Were it anyone else they would be in his personal space, but they didn't really have that. It was a blessing and a curse. She wasn't scolding him, he could tell she just didn't want to see anything bad happen. He raised his arm and rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't really think about that. I'm sorry, my Lady."

She smiled up at him and his chest ached. She said, "Well, next time, just please be mindful." Then her eyebrows furrowed. "How did Nino get ahold of you in the first place?"

Nino piped up, "I called him."

Chat Noir could feel the blood draining from his face. _No, Nino! That's the wrong answer!_

Ladybug looked at Nino, then back to Chat Noir, and took a few steps back. "That doesn't make sense. No one can call into our lines without being transformed." Her eyes shot wide and snapped to Chat Noir. "Chat, does he _know_ who you _are?"_

Chat Noir felt guilty, and then a sudden spike of anger. "Yes, okay? It was an accident! I didn't _do_ anything, it just happened! And to be perfectly honest, I'm glad it did!" He took a step toward her. "At least now there's _somebody_ I can talk to about all this! Someone who knows why I'm such a flake in my other life!"

Ladybug blanched. "Okay! Geez, Chat, if you say it was an accident, it was an accident! I'm sorry if I sounded like I was accusing you. But do you think _I _want to keep this a secret from everybody? I'd kill to have somebody in _my _life who gets why _I'm _such a flake! It's just part of the job, though, and I've accepted that! Ladybug! Savior of Paris one moment, mild mannered random girl who can't keep to a schedule to save her life the next! I do wish, though, that you'd have told me that someone knows your identity."

Nino cleared his throat, "I'm sorry, Ladybug. It's at least as much my fault as it is his. It was totally an accident, but at least if someone knows his identity it's someone who's kind of been there a little bit too."

Chat Noir groaned.

Ladybug covered her eyes with one hand and quietly said, "Nino? Does he know about your turtle?"

Nino's eyebrows climbed up. "Oh. Shit. Uh…"

Chat Noir cut in, "Yes, I know and the reason I didn't tell you either of those things is because I know how important it is to you to keep our identities from each other, and as smart as you are, the more you know about that event, including that it happened at all, the more likely you are to figure me out. So by keeping it from you I was trying to honor your wishes, not go behind your back."

Ladybug nodded thoughtfully. "Okay, that makes sense. Honestly, I hated keeping Carapace's identity from you. I am glad it was him, I guess, if it had to be somebody. There's still Rena." She glanced at the two boys, who both looked away. Ladybug sighed. "You know what? I think you're right, let's just stop talking about this, but Chat?"

Chat Noir looked at her questioningly. She took a step toward him. "Please be extra careful. If something happened to you because somebody knew, or Hawk Moth got ahold of Nino again… It just worries me."

Chat Noir closed the small space between them, picked up her hand, and closed his eyes as he kissed the back of it. He looked at her through his eyelashes, to find her a little stunned. _Good. _He smirked and said, "I promise I'll do my best to keep you from worrying."

Ladybug groaned, then palmed the center of his face with her other hand and pushed him away as she said, "See that you do. And seriously, stop sneaking your friend's friends out!" She turned to Nino and waved. "You keep him out of trouble, and don't talk so much!"

As she threw her yo-yo to the next rooftop Nino waved back and said, "Yes, ma'am! I will, Ladybug! Thank you!" and both boys watched her swing away.

When she was out of sight, Nino turned to Chat Noir and said, "One: That was too much like watching my parents fight. I didn't like it. Two: Are you sure you're Adrien? Because I know Adrien, and I have a hard time imagining him having any part of _that_ exchange with _Ladybug._ Especially that thing at the end."

Chat Noir rolled his eyes. "Shut up and hop on my back."


	6. Chapter 6

It was Tuesday morning, and Adrien was in full "ad campaign" mode. The week had just begun and he was rationing his patience. There were several wardrobe changes, a lot of waiting around for other models to finish their shots, and a lot of waiting for the props and set to be perfected. He had done this often enough that he'd learned to overestimate how long it was going to take for progress to happen, and to handle any amount of it like a treat and focus on the positive. _If they get to Pierre in about an hour, that would be really good time. Wait, there's something wrong with the fit of his shirt. Half an hour to fix it, then an hour to get to him. Oh hey, they switched out those lights early. That's some really nice lighting. Marcus did a good job. _Most of the week was left and it was certainly no sprint.

Some people there weren't quite as good at pacing themselves, and it was showing more than usual today. Often on a day like today Adrien might spend a large portion of it in his trailer reading or doing homework, but that wasn't an option when Gabriel was on site, and that went a long way to explain why some people's nerves were frayed.

Just when Adrien started wondering when someone was going to get sloppy he heard Vincent's voice over the din, "Oh no! Nonononononono! Could you watch where you're going? These are ruined! There's no time to deal with this!" Adrien weaved through the crowd to see what had agitated the photographer and found him with a handful of napkins, furiously wiping at a large coffee stain on his signature bright red plaid pants. It was no use; the pants were soaked.

Adrien saw his father just a few feet away. He had presumably just been mulling over the bulletin board of test shots for the different sets that were currently up. Now, however, he was scowling at the soggy photographer. "Is this going to end up being a problem, Vincent?"

Vincent paled and chuckled nervously. "Of course not, Mr. Agreste. This is not going to be another setback."

Gabriel raised an eyebrow and said, "I'm very glad to hear it," then put his attention back to the test shots.

Adrien scanned the room, found the wardrobe manager, and walked over to her. She had just put her tablet down and was in the process of re-tightening her bun. She smiled when she saw Adrien approaching her. He smiled back and said, "Hey Susan, is there a chance we have a pair of pants laying around in the head photographer's size?" He reached up, rubbed the back of his neck, and gestured with his other hand. "There was a coffee incident, and I think he could probably use a pair."

Susan sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Sure, I'll look into it, Adrien."

Adrien flashed her Vincent's favorite smile. "Thanks Susan, it'll be a huge help!"

Several minutes later it was determined that Pierre's shirt would take longer than originally thought, so his set was moved to later in the day and Adrien's was moved up. It was an indoor shoot, but the set was done up with the shots inside a large, white, and airy canvas yurt furnished with a large four-poster bed and antique vanity on one side and a leather wing-back chair by a small table set around an ornate rug on the other. There were small ornaments and a potted plant artfully placed around the space. It was lovely and completely ridiculous. Adrien was wearing a medium blue button down dress shirt with the top few buttons casually left undone and the sleeves loosely rolled up to just below his elbows. He had khaki pants and no shoes or socks. He'd had to wax his toes for this one.

"We're just waiting on Elise now," Vincent said as he ran a fingerless gloved hand through his hair. He looked so odd in blue jeans and no suspenders, but at least they weren't covered in coffee. He took a few test shots with his camera, grumbling the whole time about the difficult angles. Then looked just past Adrien, who was waiting outside the yurt, exclaimed, "Finally! Bella Elise, there you are! Steven, what took you two so long? Are the peacocks resting?"

Adrien watched as "Elise," a literal cheetah, was led by a leash into the yurt by Steven, her handler.

Steven nodded. "The peacocks will be ready, but I need twenty to thirty minutes to prep them before they're needed. Elise here was being difficult and needed extra coaxing into her carrier. Where do you want to start her?"

Vincent waved a hand at the bed. "Put her up there to lounge; we'll start Adrien in the chair." He handed Adrien a leather-bound book. "Now Adrien, I want you to look relaxed, but totally engrossed in this book. Don't worry about Elise, she's to be just part of the atmosphere. You are to be casual, but intense!" Adrien was used to such directions from Vincent, so he settled into "modeling mode." He tuned into Vincent's tone as much as his words, and forgot everything else. After a few position changes, his concentration was broken by loud ripping sounds coming from the bed beyond his periphery. Vincent shouted, "Elise, no!" He smacked his forehead while Steven scrambled onto the set. "Steven, why is your cat tearing up the bedding?!"

Steven pulled out some kind of treat for Elise, and through kissing noises and commands was able to get the animal to snack instead of tearing up the fabric."I don't know what's gotten into her today Vincent, I'm sorry. She's just a bit out of sorts."

Vincent wasn't really listening. He shouted, "Get her off the bed we need to assess the damage." The cheetah leaped down, exposing the extent of the tearing. Vincent growled a few choice phrases, then called in some crew members to rotate the orientation of the bedding and strategically place the pillows. Vincent gestured at Adrien and barked, "Get on the bed here to cover the rest of the damage, and we'll get a few shots just relaxing and maybe with the book again." Vincent turned to Steven. "Do you think Elise can manage to make it in a few more shots?"

Steven nodded. "I think so, but I would try to keep it short."

"Alright then, see if you can put her in the chair."

Once the cheetah was settled in with a head on the armrest, Vincent started snapping shots and barking orders to Adrien. Vincent had a tendency to be irritable when things weren't going right, but he was definitely shorter with Adrien than usual. Still Adrien knew Vincent was under a lot of pressure, and the best way to get the shoot over with was to look as comfortable, casual, and/or intense as Vincent wanted. They got a few shots in, but it wasn't long before Elise got restless on the chair. Adrien was afraid she was going to start tearing up the leather, when Elise jumped off of the chair and onto the bed with him, putting herself in the same position she was in before, right by Adrien's outstretched legs. Adrien froze and felt his adrenaline spike. "Uhh, guys?"

Steven stood up and slowly started approaching them. "Don't move, Adrien. You're not in any danger, since she's not acting aggressive or irritated. She's just trying to get cozy, and apparently really liked that spot."

Vincent lifted the camera back up to his face. "Comfortable, Adrien! And don't move your hips or the rips will show!"

_You've got to be kidding me._ Adrien took a deep breath and relaxed as much as he dared. Elise did seem fairly content. He could do this for just a few more seconds. He pretended to read. Casually. With a semi-domesticated wild animal nestled up in the crook of his knees. She was actually kind of cute, if terrifying. Maybe she would nap. Adrien heard the shutter of Vincent's camera snap a few times, while Vincent muttered about the angles, and then out of the corner of his eye he saw Elise stretch her considerable claws out and yawn exposing her sharp teeth. She then shifted slightly and began clawing at the bed again. Without thinking Adrien carefully but immediately removed himself from the bed.

Vincent's face was red with frustration. "Steven! Your cat just tried to claw up my model! Adrien, are you alright?" Adrien nodded, and the photographer continued, "I don't even know if we're going to be able to use any of these shots. The bed is torn to pieces, and I still need this set for two other models. And there is no way I'm going to be working with that mongrel again!" He sighed heavily and bent over with his hands on his knees, trying to regain composure, and then shot back up again, gestured to his blue jeans, and shouted, "And _every time _I look down, I'm looking at the _wrong pants!_" Vincent then took the camera strap off from around his neck and put the camera down on a nearby folding table, which then collapsed, causing the camera to land on the floor with a sickening _crack_. Vincent's face turned purple.

"Vincent!" Adrien shouted with his hands outstretched in a placating motion, "Do you have another one here? Even if the camera is damaged, I'm sure the memory card is fine."

Vincent was breathing heavily through his nose and staring at the camera on the ground. Adrien could practically feel a butterfly approaching. Vincent squatted down and picked the camera up. "No! That was my best camera, and it would take all day just to get one of the others and get back!" Vincent squatted down, picked up the camera, and inspected the damage. He swore in Italian, then stood upright and explained, "The shutter button and the casing around it is all damaged. It's not usable. I don't have _time _for this!"

Adrien walked over and examined the camera. He knew Vincent might not be able to afford to immediately replace his best one, and might be insulted to be offered a new one from the boss's son so flippantly, which was the last thing they needed. He said to Vincent, "You know, I've been meaning to get myself a really good camera. I'll run out and get this model, and you can use it for the rest of the shoot. Would that work?"

Vincent sighed and eyed Adrien warily. Then he rubbed his face and said, "I can't think of a better solution." Vincent retrieved the memory card and handed the camera to Adrien. "Here. There's a good camera shop not far from here, called Paris Photography Equipment." Adrien raised an eyebrow. Vincent said, "What? They're easy to find and sell good products."

Adrien chuckled and said, "Okay then, I'll be back with the camera as quickly as I can."

Adrien trotted to the break room where he knew his bodyguard would be, since Adrien wasn't likely to be mobbed by fans at a closed indoor set. He opened the door to find The Gorilla sitting in an overstuffed chair, reading a comic book and drinking a fountain drink. The large man looked up at Adrien and frowned questioningly.

_I do not want to be there when he finds out about the cheetah._

Adrien chuckled nervously and lifted the camera to show him. "Hey uh, we need to run a quick errand to go pick up a new camera. Vincent's camera broke."

The Gorilla folded the comic book in half, lengthwise, and put it in his inside jacket pocket, then got up and threw away the remainder of his drink. He then gestured to the door and followed Adrien out to the car. They found Paris Photography Equipment with relative ease and were able to get a new camera quickly, but before they made it back Adrien's and his bodyguard's phones both chimed. When Adrien checked his there was a text from Nathalie with a schedule change. The shoot was cancelled for the day and Adrien was free to go to school.

The Gorilla turned the car around and brought him to school. When they got there, Adrien handed the camera over to The Gorilla. "Could you please make sure Vincent gets this? I don't want him to worry about not having a camera tomorrow." The man nodded and Adrien got out just in time for Ms. Bustier's French literature class.

Ms. Bustier smiled brightly from in front of the class when Adrien walked in. "Adrien! I didn't expect to see you this week, what a pleasant surprise!"

Adrien smiled back at her. "I didn't expect to be here either, but the shoot ended early today." He walked to his seat and waved at everyone, and received several surreptitious waves in return. Marinette had a huge smile, but she was a bit flushed. As he sat down, he whispered, "Hey Marinette!" and somehow her smile got bigger as she quietly squeaked, "Hi!" Adrien chuckled at his sometimes quirky friend as he turned around to face the front.

Ms. Bustier walked to the front of her desk and said, "Alright everybody, get out your copies of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. We will be examining Captain Nemo and his reasoning behind his self-imposed exile." Adrien thought he heard a faint buzz behind him, but before he could try to identify it, Marinette suddenly started coughing, and _violently_. Adrien turned to look at her in concern, along with the rest of the class, to see her continue to cough loudly into her elbow.

Ms. Bustier asked, "Marinette, are you breathing okay?" Marinette nodded, but continued coughing, her face dark with strain. "Marinette, do you want to go get a drink of water?" Marinette's persistent and loud cough continued as she nodded her head, slowly stood up, and carefully walked down the steps, hacking the whole way. Once she left the room Ms. Bustier said, "She probably just inhaled a bit of saliva, I'm sure she'll be fine after a moment."

Adrien heard the faint buzz again, then heard Alya gasp quietly. Adrien then heard his own phone buzz. He had a text.

_Alya: There's an akuma sighting near where your shoot was. Lots of plaid. Get out before I broadcast the tip!_

Adrien looked up from his phone and saw Ms. Bustier giving him a warning look for using his phone in class. He took that as an opportunity. "Ms. Bustier, I am so sorry, but it looks like the shoot is back on, at a different location, and I've been told to go there immediately."

"Alright, Adrien. It was good to see your face again, hopefully next time you can stay for the whole class."

Adrien gathered his belongings and slung his bag over his shoulder as he said, "Yes, ma'am, I hope so too." as he walked quickly out of the room.

—

"Pound it!"

Ladybug gestured to the photographer who was sitting on the ground and rubbing his head. "Do you think you could get this one, Kitty? I'm running low on time. Who would have thought plaid and leopard print would make for such a difficult fight?"

Chat Noir nodded. "Cheetah print." Ladybug raised an eyebrow at him. He continued, "There's a subtle but distinct difference. Anyway, yeah. I got him." He winked. "You go take care of your own spots."

Ladybug smiled and rolled her eyes. "Alright, then. Bug out!" She threw her yo-yo to a nearby rooftop and was pulled away.

Chat Noir walked up to Vincent, noted that he still looked odd in blue jeans, and helped him to his feet. "I'm sorry, Chat Noir, I don't know what got into me. Nothing has gone right today. And on top of it, you would think a _fashion designer_ would be more sympathetic to how the way you present yourself with your clothes can really make a difference in maintaining a sense of confidence and control."

Chat Noir grinned and shrugged. "Maybe one with sympathy would."

Vincent chuckled. "Touché."

"Do you need help getting anywhere?"

"No thanks. I'm just going to take a walk back to the shoot site, I guess I didn't make it that far away."

"Alright then. Take care!" Chat Noir gave a two finger salute while he unclipped his baton with the other hand, and then vaulted away.

Once Chat Noir found a spot with nobody around, he ducked down next to a car, mostly to feel better, and detransformed. Adrien caught Plagg with practiced ease, and handed him the emergency camembert unfortunately hidden in his shirt pocket. _Thank goodness for little plastic baggies. _

Plagg scarfed down the cheese, then looked at Adrien and said, "For the record, that cheetah would have been toast before it could have done any real damage if things had gone south."

"That is both somehow very and not at all reassuring, Plagg. Thanks." Adrien found a park bench to sit at while he pulled out his phone and scrolled through some numbers.

Plagg floated himself near Adrien's chest, not quite ready to go back in a pocket, but camouflaging slightly better next to his black shirt than Adrien did at the car. "What are you doing?"

"I'm just trying to see if I can help Vincent out a little. Here she is." Adrien tapped the number for the head of wardrobe at the shoot. After a couple of rings she answered, and Adrien said, "Hey Susan! I was just wondering, do you happen to remember what Vincent's pants size is, like the jeans you got for him? Yeah, that Vincent. … Awesome, thanks. See you tomorrow." He looked at Plagg. "And now to see if I'm right about something." Adrien pulled up the Gabriel website, and searched for a few key words. "Bingo! I can't believe these are still up on the site. This line is from a few years back." Adrien held his phone where Plagg could easily see several articles of clothing while Adrien scrolled. Boldness was definitely a common theme. "I remember a lot of the staff dubbed this the 'Loud Red Pants Collection.' When Father wasn't nearby, of course."

Plagg goggled and said, "Oh my God, there are your dad's pants."

Adrien nodded. "Yep, and just a few items below…" Adrien clicked on an identical pair to Vincent's classic plaids. Then he shrunk the image in favor of the phone app again, and called the local Gabriel warehouse. "Hey Remy! How are you today? … Glad to hear it. Say, I have a favor to ask. Could you tell me if we have a pair of LRP24827's in a particular size?" Adrien gave the size and waited while Remy checked the inventory. "Fantastic! Could you bill a pair of those to me, and have them delivered to the shoot first thing in the morning… Yeah, this is about Vincent. You saw that on the news? … Yeah, it was really colorful. … Oh, there was a nasty coffee spill, among other things. … Alright, thanks man, I really appreciate it, have a good day!"

Adrien locked his phone and pocketed it. "And now to see if I can salvage some of my school day after all."

Plagg tilted his head at Adrien. "The day is more than half over. You make no sense." Instead of arguing, however, he flew into Adrien's shirt pocket.

A few minutes later, Adrien got to his classroom just as class was letting out. There were still fifth and sixth periods to go, and he didn't want to interrupt Ms. Bustier again anyway, so that was fine. He waited outside for his friends. When Nino stepped out, followed closely by Alya, Adrien smiled brightly and said, "Hey guys!"

Nino's face lit up. "Hey dude! You made it back!"

Adrien glanced around and made sure no one was paying attention. He grinned and said, "Yeah, it took longer than we expected. It was a real clash of the _tartans_ out there."

Alya chuckled and shook her head while Nino groaned. Nino looked at Adrien and said, "Adrien. That joke can only be funny the first time."

Adrien spluttered. "I hadn't told you that one yet. How could I have?"

Nino shook his head. "Nope, doesn't matter. I can tell by the way you said it, this was at least the second time you told that one today."

Adrien rolled his eyes. "Well, I wasn't just going to _not _tell you. I still think it was a good one."

Nino smiled and shook his head. "Whatever, dude."

—

It was Thursday evening and Nino was helping his mother in the kitchen before dinner. Nino's little brother yelled, "Finally! Pizza night!" as he climbed into his chair at the table and waited to be served.

Nino's mother shook her head. "Chris, you need to go wash your hands. Nino, would you mind getting everybody's water?"

Chris skulked off to the bathroom while Nino got three glasses out of the cabinet, filled them with water, and placed them around the table. By the time he was done, Chris was back in his seat and their mother had placed the pizza in the middle and put a plate next to each of their glasses. While she served herself a piece she said, "So Nino, when is the next time you plan to go over to Adrien's?"

Nino had gotten his own piece and had to quickly swallow his first bite so he could answer. "I'm not sure, but I'm hoping maybe Sunday. He's in the middle of the big ad campaign right now, so he hasn't been at school for a couple days. He's been spending all day at photo shoots, going home late, and almost going straight to bed." He took a sip of his water. "But Sunday is supposed to be the last day, and I think he said it might end earlier that day. I'm going to try calling him after dinner and see if that's still looking good."

Ms. Lahiffe held her slice in front of her as she furrowed her brows. "Don't you have midterms next week? That doesn't seem like a smart week to be pulling him from school." She took a bite, allowing Nino some time to answer.

"Yeah, that was why he studied like a madman last week, so he could skip this whole week and not miss any of the material. It was nuts, Mom. The way his dad expects him to work like that just really rubs me the wrong way, you know?"

Nino's mother nodded slowly and squinted at her plate a moment. She cleared her throat and said, "Son, you work too, and your earnings mostly go to help the family. Is it really so different?"

Nino was taken aback. He looked at Chris, who was playing on a tablet hidden under the table, and then back to his mother. "Mom, that's completely different. It was my idea because I _wanted_ to DJ, and starting now gets me a good foothold if I'm really going to make a career of it. And I'm proud that I can do something that really helps you out in a tangible way." He paused and looked at her smiling at him. "It makes me feel, I don't know, like maybe when it's time to really be an adult, like I'll be ready."

"Nino, I have no doubt you will be. But don't ever forget, we'll be okay if you decide you don't want to anymore. Though, I really do appreciate the help, and I'm so proud of you."

Nino's cheeks pinked as he smiled. "Thanks, Mom." He took another bite of pizza and chewed it along with his thoughts. "I think that's what bothers me so much about Adrien. It's not just that it's not his choice, or that they would still get along fine without it. I really don't think his dad _does_ appreciate it."

Nino's mom smiled at him sadly, then glanced over at Chris and rolled her eyes. "Chris! What have I told you about that thing at the table?"

Chris put his tablet next to his plate. "Sorry Mom. I was just about to get to the next level." Nino finished up his pizza while listening to Chris regale them about his struggles with the level 12 boss fight. Then the topic of conversation meandered around to other things, Nino only half paying attention.

Once Nino was done, he excused himself, brought his plate and glass to the sink, and went to his room. He pulled out his phone and called Adrien's number as he jumped to lay across his bed, and wrestled a pillow under his chin.

Adrien picked up. "Hey, Nino."

"Hey dude, you _are_ alive! I haven't heard from you in a while!"

"Alive might be a strong word. The shoot started nice and early at 6:00 and I just got home maybe twenty minutes ago? It was so mind numbing. And thigh numbing. Vincent had me holding the weirdest pose with my knees facing east and my shoulders facing west, in an effort to 'accentuate my angles,' but don't let that show on your face. No, that wouldn't be carefree or dreamy."

"Oh, so they did remind you to be pretty. I was concerned. Do you still think we'll be on for Sunday?"

"Nathalie put you on the schedule when I asked, and it's still there every time I look. Just three more days."

"Sweet."

"Oh hey, um. Vincent actually apologized to me about the science fair thing today. He said that he didn't know about it when he asked for the impromptu shoot, and he didn't mean for that to happen."

"Oh. Well that's pretty cool, I guess."

"Yeah."

Nino wasn't sure how to respond for a moment after being reminded of the science fair. He sighed and said, "I don't know how you do it. How you just keep up with the demand for your father's company. From here it looks intense."

Adrien snorted. "Hey, I'm used to it. After all, Gabriel is my middle name."

—

_Gozer: . . . - - - . . ._

_Gozer: Nino._

_Gozer: HELP ME!_

_WiFi'sDJ: What? What's going on?_

_Gozer: Adrien is out of his gourd! He's hatching up this ridiculous scheme to get Ladybug's attention. I think all the long hours and flashing lights have finally gotten to him. He's going to make a huge ass of himself - which would be hilarious - but he's really going to piss Ladybug off, and I don't think that will be funny._

_Wifi'sDJ: Okay, so the shoot's over then? They're done?_

_Gozer: Yes, Adrien's home now. _

_Wifi'sDJ: I'll be there soon._

_Gozer: Good, I have an idea…_

—

Adrien was practically vibrating. When he saw exactly how much backdrop and staging fabric was just going to be thrown out at the end of the day because it was all too worn and dirty to be used at the next big campaign, he got a brilliant idea. "Plagg, you'll see, when Nino gets here he's going to help us out so it won't take as long, and then I'll go hang it and Ladybug and all of Paris will see that she means everything to me! This is going to be so great!"

Plagg floated nearby looking skeptical while Adrien paced by the windows. "I still think this is a bad idea, Adrien. She's not going to appreciate this."

There was a knock on the door. Plagg disappeared before it was pushed open by Nathalie. "Mr. Lahiffe is here to see you, Adrien."

Adrien jogged over to the door. "Thank you, Nathalie!"

Nathalie nodded and left as Nino came in and closed the door. "Hey Adrien! So glad you're finally done with this crazy week, huh?"

"Hey Nino! What? Oh, yeah. But I have to tell you! I got this great idea!" Adrien grinned and rubbed his hands together. "So. At the end of the photo shoot there were just yards and yards of white backdrop fabric that they were just going to get rid of," Adrien spread his arms as if holding the fabric, "and I got to thinking what a waste that was, and tried to think of what could be _done_ with it," He began pacing as he gestured. "And I realized that there's enough there for a pretty substantial banner if you sew them together! So I want to make this _huge_ banner and paint a message to Ladybug, like," he put his hands up to bracket the invisible letters in front of him, "'Ladybug, please go out with Chat Noir!' Or 'Ladybug, please give Chat Noir a chance!' Or something like that. I don't know what yet, but we can think of something good while we sew."

He turned to the window, "I'll hang it from the Eiffel Tower where she's sure to see it! Then I can wait up there with a big bouquet of roses, or maybe a romantic dinner, and then she would see!" He put his hands down and sighed. He looked at the floor in front of him. "Then maybe she'd give me a chance. What do you think, Nino?" Adrien turned around with a smile on his face, only for it to falter when he saw Nino and Plagg holding a banner suspended between them, decorated with glitter and ladybugs and paw prints that read in big black letters: **Adrien, no.**

Adrien's face crumpled as he said, "What? Plagg, what did you tell him? Nino, why are you on _his_ side?"

Plagg sighed and said, "Adrien, this is an intervention. You really need to forget this plan because it will absolutely cause problems."

Adrien scowled at his kwami and said, "Plagg, claws out." Plagg was effectively removed from the room while a green flash of light replaced an irritated Adrien with a pleading Chat Noir. "Nino, come on man! You see it, don't you? It's a good, romantic plan! I can't just let this opportunity go by, right?" Chat Noir nodded to his friend with big hopeful eyes.

Nino crumpled the banner in his hands and looked at his friend. He took a deep breath and said, "Dude, I really admire your optimism, but we've gone over this before. She has her heart set on someone else. Has she given any tangible reason to make you think that situation has changed?"

Chat Noir looked at his hands while he fiddled with his ring. "Well… no."

"She's not just going to forget that because you told all of Paris how much you love her. If she doesn't feel the same, then all that does is put her in a really tight spot. Does she go along with it for appearances?"

Chat Noir's head snapped up and his eyes were blown wide. "I would never ask her to do that!"

Nino folded his arms across his chest. "Then the only option you're leaving for her is to very publicly break your heart. She might not be in love with you," Chat winced as Nino continued, "But she does care a lot about you and that would crush her."

Chat Noir was deflated. He felt bad that Nino had thought more about _her _feelings than he himself had, when he was the one who was supposed to be in love with her. In a small voice he said, "Claws in." Another burst of light revealed Adrien, seeming very small. "You really think it would be that bad?"

Plagg flew up to hover an arm's length from Adrien's face. "Kid, I don't know what I missed, but if this plan goes south, and that is likely, it would absolutely be that bad. If it looked to the people like Ladybug and Chat Noir were having some kind of falling out, that would be really bad for public morale, right? And what gives Hawk Moth the biggest kind of advantage?"

Adrien grimaced and nodded. "Low public morale."

Plagg repeated, "Low. Public. Morale," then he floated over to the mini fridge to recharge from the impromptu transformation.

"But what about _my _morale?" Adrien could tell he was whining, which meant he had definitely lost, but he still wanted to go back to before his friends shared their annoyingly good points.

Nino shrugged. "You're not wrong, your morale is important for the safety of Paris, because you'd make one nasty akuma. I wish we could drive that point home _to your father_, but dude - you gotta respect her feelings. Besides, if you went through with this, your morale is _not_ going to be high by the end of the night. And whose morale is _also_ very important for the safety of Paris?"

Adrien felt the color drain from his face and he whispered, "Ladybug."

Nino pointed at his friend. "Exactly. The last thing we need is a Ladybug with an excess of negative emotions."

Adrien rubbed his hand through his hair. "Okay, okay. It was a dumb idea. I just… I just miss her. I love her so much. I haven't seen her all week, except to fight Vincent."

Nino chuckled. "I know, dude. I know. You've had a crazy week, I don't really think either of you would get akumatized over this, but I do think you would do more to push her away than bring you closer."

Adrien sat on his couch, resigned.

Plagg looked between the two of them and said, "Glad that's all sorted out. Does anyone want to play cards?"

"No!" Adrien and Nino both said, in unison.

Nino looked over at Adrien. "Do you want to watch a movie and eat junk food, or go grab a bunch of foam practice weapons and beat each other up with them?"

Adrien's eyes blew wide. "Can we do both?"

Nino laughed, "If you think we have time!"

Adrien's eyes gleamed as he declared, "Weapons first! Plagg, claws out!"

Plagg whined, "_What happened to asking?"_ as he got sucked into the ring, and then the boys were off.


	7. Chapter 7

Adrien's crusty eyes popped open at the grating sound of his alarm. There was a short disoriented moment before he wrapped his head around the day. "It's Monday!" he shouted as he threw his covers off himself and half of the bed, and then bounded into the bathroom to wash the sleep away and prepare. This morning Adrien was alert from his excitement to see all his friends again, and determined to face the day as prepared as he could possibly be. He very deliberately and precisely completed each step of his morning ritual as he showered, cleansed and moisturized his face, dressed in his impeccably clean and wrinkle-free clothes, brushed and flossed his teeth, and perfectly coiffed his hair.

With one last look in the mirror, Adrien walked over to his desk and double-checked the contents of his school bag to make sure everything was in order. "Alright Plagg, it's time to go. Shirt or bag?"

Plagg yawned and said, "Bag," as he floated over to Adrien. "And what are you preening so much for? Plan on charming those midterms into submission?"

Adrien's cheeks pinked. "I wanted to feel as prepared as possible. That's just part of how I get ready, okay? It's a big day. I need to ace these tests. Then Ladybug and I need to set up the schedule for this week's patrols, so I'm going to be finally seeing her again either tonight or tomorrow night," His face drifted into a grin at the thought. "I just want to be ready."

Plagg smirked and said, "Whatever, kid. Let's get out of here," as he flew into the open school bag. Adrien slung the bag over his shoulder, and after a quick (but balanced) breakfast, he met his bodyguard at the car.

When they pulled up to the school, none of his friends were outside. He was early enough that he probably got there first and too anxious for the day to begin to just stand around and wait. He decided it would be easier to do his waiting in the building instead.

Adrien entered the classroom as Max sighed and said, "No, Kim. I don't have the time or resources to build a robot to race you in the swimming pool in two weeks." He looked away from Kim. "Oh hey, Adrien!" There were a few people in the classroom already, and at Max's greeting, the others offered their own welcoming smiles.

Kim grinned and said, "Welcome back Adrien! You picked a good week to come back. All the focus is on whatever midterm is happening each day, and the rest of the classes are basically giving us a free day!"

Adrien smiled and was about to respond when he got tackled from behind, "Oh Adrikins! This place was so utterly _lame _without you!"

Adrien rocked on his feet at the impact. "Hey Chlo, I missed you too."

Chloe climbed down from her koala-like hold on his back, grabbed his shoulder and turned him to face her. Sabrina waved at him from behind her as Chloe said, "I mean, the clothes are amazing, but still, I know those losers over at Gabriel would be totally lost without you, so I understand why they need you so badly, but couldn't they have waited until next week when school is out?"

Adrien shrugged, and started for his desk, prompting Chloe, then Sabrina to do the same as he said, "If they let me have input on the schedule, I'd have been here last week."

Nino and Alya came in and smiled when they saw him. "See Alya, I told you he'd make it in today."

Alya lightly shoved Nino as she said, "Hey Adrien! I almost forgot what you looked like!"

Adrien turned in his seat to face both of them as they each sat in their places. He rolled his eyes and said, "Give the marketing team a week, and you won't be able to turn around without being reminded. Where's Marinette?"

Alya shook her head. "You know how it is, it's midterms week! She probably stayed up half the night cramming for today's test. If she makes it in before the bell, I'd be surprised."

Ms. Bustier walked in the room, closed the door behind her, and sang out, "Good morning everyone!" She nodded to him and said, "Glad to see you back Adrien," she glanced around the room, "Is everyone ready for the midterm? At the end of last week, I felt like most of you were pretty confident in your knowledge. Let's hope I see it in your exams. We've still got a few minutes left, but I'd appreciate it if you could go ahead and clear your desks and ready your minds. You'll all do great, I'm sure." With that she sat at her desk and began tapping on her tablet to prepare for the exam.

A moment later Marinette burst through the door and shouted, "I'm not late!" With a pointed look from Ms. Bustier, she grinned apologetically, "Sorry. I made it, though?"

Ms. Bustier smiled and shook her head. "So you did. Please have a seat Marinette."

Marinette nodded and moved to walk toward her desk, but at the sight of Adrien she lurched as her face pinked. "Adrien! You're back!" With wide eyes she approached him on her way to her seat with a stilted stride. "Did you do something different with your hair today? It looks really good!" She paused next to his desk and waved her hands in front of him. "I mean! It always looks good. Not that I'm always looking!" She shrunk back on herself. "Uh, good to see you?"

Adrien smiled at her and chuckled. "Good to see you too, Marinette! I did spend some extra time on my hair this morning, thanks for noticing!"

After a moment of hesitation, Marinette flashed a large, toothy smile and scampered up to her desk. _Poor girl must be nervous about the test. I bet she hardly slept._

Ms. Bustier stood and addressed the class. "Alright everyone, I think it's time we go ahead and get started. It's time to see how much you learned about the works we covered by Victor Hugo and Jules Verne." She passed the test around and Adrien immersed himself back into the Notre Dame Cathedral as viewed by one Hunchback.

—

Kim had a good point about returning during midterms week. They had one test per day, and for the rest of the day the students spent class time reviewing on their own, or just plain goofing off. As such, Adrien had plenty of time to relax and catch up with all of his friends from the week that he missed. He was walking with Nino, Alya, and Marinette to their final class for the day when Alya's phone buzzed. She pulled it out and looked at it. "Yep, I guess Hawk Moth's apparent vacation is over now. It was nice having just one akuma last week."

The rest of them took out their phones, and Adrien saw pictures of some kind of winged floral monstrosity. He sighed, "Oh good. A flier. I uh, I think I forgot something back in the last classroom."

Alya and Nino both nodded a little too enthusiastically. Nino said, "Yeah, man! We'll catch up with you later in class!"

Alya piped up, "Right! I hope you can find it quickly, but if not we'll let Mr. DuBois know where you are!"

Marinette was looking intently at her phone, so thankfully she didn't notice their suspicious behavior. Without looking up, she said, "You know, I should probably go to the ladies' room before I get to class. See you guys in a bit!" and took off down the hall.

Once she left, Nino grabbed Adrien's shoulder and said, "Good luck, dude." Adrien nodded to his friend and left them there, moving quickly to the nearest exit.

When Chat Noir caught up with Ladybug on the top of the Arc de Triomphe much of the scenery was already covered in bursts of red and white roses with smaller white flowers. There were delicate vines reaching between the clusters and choking everything else out of the spaces between. When he landed beside her, Ladybug seemed visibly relieved. "Glad to see you made it quickly, Chat Noir. I have a feeling this one is going to be tricky. I haven't approached him yet, but he moves fast. He's already at Notre-Dame."

Chat Noir rubbed his chin as he examined the vines. They didn't seem to be going anywhere now, but they were already pretty much everywhere in the area. "Did you happen to catch any monologuing?"

"Someone got some of it and posted to the Ladyblog. Not Ms. Blogger herself, thank goodness." Chat snorted as Ladybug continued, "Something about how no one will ever complain about his flowers being too slow again?"

Chat Noir looked up at Ladybug with a puzzled expression. "Slow flowers?" Then his eyes opened wide as his jaw dropped, "Oh! I think I know who he is. I thought those flowers looked familiar."

Ladybug raised an eyebrow at him, then looked closer at the blossoms. Her eyes widened as she said, "Slow flowers!" She looked back at Chat Noir. "It's that hang gliding delivery florist!"

Chat Noir smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. "That's exactly who I was thinking. We do make a great team."

Ladybug rolled her eyes. "Yes, of course. So, prime places for Akuma… Glider? Helmet? Bouquet?"

Chat unclipped his baton and extended it. "All good places to start."

Ladybug slung out her yo-yo and the two of them made their way toward the cathedral. When they got there, the supervillain was flying nearby on wings of leaves and petals instead of feathers. The petals also served as a vibrantly colorful toga-like garment. The clusters of flowers and their creeping vines covered most of the buildings between him and the direction they came. Chat Noir watched as the flowery villain pointed a long gold scepter that looked like a single golden rose at the Agreste Mansion. Groupings of the red and white flowers burst open from the walls displacing bricks and concrete, and then reached for each other with their vines at a rate that covered the building in a few seconds. Hawk Moth's victim turned and saw them. He paused in his work and said, "Ah, Ladybug and Chat Noir! I am Sonic Bloom! You will give me your Miraculous, and my flowers will be all-pervasive and no one will ever have to wait for them again!" He pointed his scepter at Ladybug and Chat Noir's feet and Ladybug and Chat Noir had to dodge quickly to avoid being entangled by vines coming from the impromptu rose garden. They jumped to an adjacent building, but found that each time they had to land, the space around them was quickly overtaken by the flowers.

Chat Noir shouted, "I'm gonna go get that staff, my Lady!" as he extended his baton and vaulted himself directly at the birdlike villain. Just before impact, Sonic Bloom tucked his wings and dove like a falcon, but Chat Noir was able to grab him at the last moment and join him for the dive. After a vertical drop that brought them almost to the ground, Sonic Bloom opened his wings and twisted as he pulled up, jarring Chat Noir off of him directly into a thick patch of foliage. Red and white petals were thrown like confetti at the impact, and Chat Noir found himself immediately ensnared. Once he regained his bearings from the landing he realized with alarm that small feeler vines were converging on the fingers of his right hand where he wore his ring. In a panic he shouted, "Cataclysm!" and disintegrated all the plants in a 20 foot radius. Once the area was clear, Chat Noir shook himself off and looked around for Ladybug.

He found her attempting her own mid-air grapple by pulling herself up to Sonic Bloom by the yo-yo string that she managed to loop around his ankle. When it became apparent that his erratic maneuvers were going to throw her off, she tugged the yo-yo off of him in time to choose her own landing spot: on the steep roofs of nearby townhouses, still free of plantlife. Chat Noir vaulted to join her there. As they ran and bounded from rooftop to rooftop, dodging flowers and vines springing up at every turn, Chat Noir shouted over the chaos, "The direct approach doesn't seem to work on this one!"

Ladybug dodged the bouquet that sprouted in front of her as they both shifted directions. She shouted back, "I think we're going to have to figure out how to get him to come to us, _without _us getting trapped. And I don't see getting out of this without a fresh cataclysm at the ready." Chat Noir's ring chirped as the first green toe blinked away, punctuating Ladybug's point. "I'll stall him while you go recharge!"

Chat Noir looked at her in disbelief. "Can we think of a plan B?"

A hedge of blossoms sprang up directly in front of them, close enough that they were hit by a wave of the sweet smell. Ladybug shot her yo-yo out to a chimney they had just put behind them and grabbed Chat Noir as the string forced her abrupt perpendicular directional change. When the course-correction maneuver was completed and they were running in a straight line again, she responded, "No time, Kitty. We split up now." Then with a look of determination, she twisted and launched her yo-yo back up and snagged their foe, who was several meters above and behind them, and retracted the string just enough to gain clearance to swing to another rooftop running in the opposite direction, not giving him a chance to throw her to a less tactical position. Sonic Bloom took the bait and shifted to chasing Ladybug.

_I really hate it when she does that! _Spurred into action, Chat Noir had to search for a moment before he found a plant-free spot at ground level with no one in sight. He dropped transformation and pulled a wedge of Camembert out of his pocket as he caught Plagg with the other hand. "Plagg, eat fast, we're not done. I gotta get back in there."

Plagg took the cheese and looked toward the building covered in the red and white flowers. "Yeesh, that's creepy, but even if I eat fast you know I'm still too exhausted to transform right away. This is going to take a little while."

Adrien paced while Plagg ate and did his best not to rush his kwami. He knew Plagg was aware of how much of a time crunch they were in.

Once he was feeling recharged, Plagg said, "Alright, let's do this," then Adrien called upon his transformation and launched himself back to rooftop level. He found the fight had moved a few rooftops away to the top of the school and wasn't going well. Ladybug had been entangled by one of the plants. Remembering how quickly the vines reached for his ring when he was in that situation motivated him to move faster than he had in his life. His lungs were burning with the effort to get to her, and he almost tripped when he saw a red gramophone with black polka dots tangled up in a nearby patch of flowers.

_She's already used her lucky charm! How long ago? How long did I take?_ When he finally closed the distance enough to see Ladybug's panicked expression as she wrestled with the stubborn vines, Sonic Bloom shouted, "Oh! So the cat came back!" and suddenly more flowers were bursting through the rooftop in large viney bunches for Chat Noir to dodge.

Quick on his feet, he was able to vault over and around them to Ladybug as he shouted, "Cataclysm!" and slapped his hand on the plants that trapped her. The moment he saw them shift to ash and he got a clear view of the one blinking dot on her earring, he scooped her up and ran to the edge of the roof, frantic to find anyplace that was out of the villain's line of sight.

"I'm about to change back!" Ladybug shouted desperately. Chat Noir just nodded as they jumped over the edge of the roof. As they fell, Ladybugs earrings began to beep incessantly. They landed in an uncontrolled heap, practically right on top of Alya and Nino, who had been filming the battle from a questionably discreet distance.

From his landing place on the ground, Chat Noir saw Ladybug immediately stand and plant her feet with her fists at her sides and her eyes screwed shut like she was bracing for impact when a burst of light appeared at her feet. Alya's eyes were wide as she covered her mouth. Nino had his arms around her, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from Ladybug either. Chat Noir was helpless to do anything but watch as the pink light washed Ladybug from her feet to her head, leaving behind Marinette Dupain-Cheng. A red kwami launched from her earring, glanced around at her three spectators, and dove into the purse that Marinette had unclasped with one hand. Marinette took a deep breath in, then released it and opened her eyes, letting tears escape them. While her face smoothed out, it was still hard with determination.

Alya goggled. "Marinette? It's _you?_"

Marinette ignored Alya and turned to Chat Noir. "We need to get inside or we're going to be found right here. Get that window open."

Chat Noir shook his head to clear it and quickly got to his own feet, then used his staff to smash in a classroom window where they climbed into the building.

Once they were all inside, Marinette looked to each of them and said, "I know this is a lot to take in guys, but until that akuma is cleansed I'm still Ladybug, and Chat and I still have a job to do."

Chat Noir's mind was racing, but he knew she was right, and maybe feeling him out for a reaction, and that he should freak out about Marinette _(Marinette?) _later. He replied, "Are you okay, My Lady? You're crying."

She looked at him and he could see some of the tension leave her when she heard him say, _My Lady,_ understanding it as a signal that their partnership was still intact. She gave him a small smile and said, "I will be. They're just tears, Kitty." She wiped them away like the nuisance they were and looked around at the rest of them again, "We waited too long to call for backup this time." She turned to the couple. "Rena, Carapace, can I count on the two of you to help us defeat Sonic Bloom?"

Watching her was so surreal. Marinette hadn't stopped being "Ladybug" for even a moment, spots or not. It was like Ladybug just happened to be wearing a Marinette suit. By the look on Nino and Alya's faces, she was having the same effect on them.

Nino grinned. "Anything you need."

Alya nodded her head emphatically. "Of course! … Ladybug." She giggled and her smile was so wide it looked like it might give her a cramp.

Marinette smiled and rolled her eyes at Alya, then looked in her purse. "Hmm, this is going to take a while." Chat Noir's ring beeped for the first time. She turned to him. "Okay, I need you to get me to Master Fu's to get their Miraculous while you still have some time and Tikki's recharging. You can recharge there, it's not that far."

Chat Noir nodded curtly then turned to Nino and Alya. "Stay here if you can; we'll be back." Then he poked his head out the window for a quick glance around, turned to Marinette and said, "The coast is clear. Let's hurry." He scooped her up, jumped out of the window, and began running away from the area Sonic Bloom had been redecorating.

Marinette secured her arms around his neck for stability. Unbidden, he was reminded of how just a week ago he had declared Marinette the benchmark for optimal portability among his friends. Now he wasn't sure if that was irony or just practice maneuvering around her frame as Ladybug. Either way, it was a lot easier than carrying Nino. He looked at her and asked. "So, which way will we be going?" Her eyes were closer than he expected and he quickly looked away. He felt his face grow warm.

"It's about ten blocks that way," she pointed 90 degrees from where they were already moving, but still away from the battle zone, much to his relief. "There's a little massage parlor. I think we're far away enough now that we can switch to rooftops."

With a nod he vaulted them to the roof and began running. They traveled a while in silence except for the sound of Chat Noir's boots on shingles and tin. There were so many questions he had, so many epiphanies he was digesting, but there wasn't really time to discuss it like he knew he wanted to, and didn't know what _she_ thought about this. Actually, he was pretty sure he knew what she thought. Ladybug never wanted to share identities. That was the rule. It's too dangerous. He knew the idea of him knowing who she was terrified her on some level. He knew she trusted him, but she didn't trust circumstances, and she didn't trust Hawk Moth not to take advantage of them if he could. Now, though. Now he was guilty of knowing. He was also guilty of being _really _excited about it, though trying not to think about that right now.

"Kitty? You okay?" Marinette startled him out of his reverie and he looked at her on reflex right into her big blue eyes again, still sans mask. It was jarring to say the least.

Chat Noir flashed his biggest, most okayest smile, "Uh, yeah! I'm fine! Why wouldn't I be?"

Marinette sighed, "Look, I know this isn't the best time to talk about any of this, but you've been really quiet, which is weird, and you're having a hard time looking at me. I just want to make sure you're alright."

_Of course Marinette/Ladybug is making sure I'm fine in the middle of her personal crisis. _"Sorry, uh, what do you want me to call you?"

"Oh, um, Marinette out of the suit. I know I used the other names back there when most of us were detransformed, but I was just trying to make a point."

"Right, that makes sense," he took a deep breath, but it had nothing to do with the running, "Marinette."

"So, why is it hard to look at me?" Marinette asked, with concern clear in her voice.

"Uh, this is going to sound silly, but um." He glanced at her and back away quickly, never losing pace. "It's the bridge of your nose." His ring beeped.

Marinette's eyebrows drew down in confusion. "What?"

"The bridge of your nose has been taboo for so long, it seems almost weirdly indecent now. Looking directly at you has me feeling a little scandalized."

"Oh my God, Chat!" Marinette buried her face in his shoulder, and in a muffled voice shouted, "You are so weird!" She looked up at his face again, "You have seen 'Marinette's' face countless times! You've seen mine and thousands of other bridges of noses!"

"I know, and I agree it's weird, My- uh, Marinette, but never Ladybug's, and now I do, and I know I shouldn't." He stopped running, and shrugged. "Okay, we've gone about 10 blocks. Now where?"

Marinette craned her neck to look at the buildings around them. "We're very close, let's go street level." Chat Noir hopped down to the sidewalk and set Marinette on her feet. She said, "Over that way, come on!" They both started running toward a nondescript business front. Marinette stopped short of going in and turned to him. "You know this isn't your fault, right, Kitty?"

Chat Noir hung his head, "I don't really know one way or the other at this point, but I think it might be."

Marinette sighed, then fixed him with a serious expression. "Look, we'll talk about it more later, but you need to know that I don't blame you." She raised her eyebrows as though waiting for a response.

Chat Noir gave a small nod and whispered, "Yeah. Okay."

Marinette's eyes softened. "Okay. Wait right here." She knocked on the door, opened it, and then called into the entryway, "Grandpa! Are you busy? I came by to pick up a few things and a snack for my friend!"

Chat Noir whisper yelled next to her, "He's your _grandfather_?"

Marinette turned to Chat Noir with a finger over her lips and shook her head vigorously. Master Fu called to her from the interior, "Come on in Marinette, I'm with a client!"

Marinette called back, "Okay, but it's a different friend, not the short one, but the tall one. You know, the blonde one?" Chat Noir's ring beeped.

They could hear Master Fu splutter, "_What?_ Okay, just a moment." Then they heard Master Fu talking to someone quietly, and then heard his footsteps approach them. His face poked around the door. "Marinette and _Chat Noir_?" I'm going to want to know what happened later. He looked to Chat Noir, "I'll bring you to a room to recharge." He turned to Marinette. "You know where everything is, take what you need."

Master Fu, Marinette, and Chat Noir walked inside and through the front room, where a man was laying on his back with a towel over his face. As they passed the towel muffled the man's voice as he said, "Mr. Chan?"

Master Fu said in a serene tone, "Just keep meditating, it helps the healing."

Marinette broke off to a different part of the apartment and Chat Noir was lead into a guest bedroom and said, "You'll have privacy in here." He turned to leave, but looked back and asked, "Do you need food for Plagg?"

Chat Noir rubbed the back of his neck, and said with a nervous smile, "Ah, no. I got it. Thanks."

Master Fu smiled and shut the door behind him. Chat Noir dropped transformation. Plagg spiraled out of the ring and Adrien caught him. He looked around, startled, and said, "We're _here_? How bad did things get?"

Adrien huffed in irritation at yet another of his partners who knew their way around the guardian's home. "Bad. We're not done yet, hurry up and eat."

Plagg swiped the cheese Adrien held out to him, then paused, and eyed Adrien. "Is the Ladybug okay?"

Adrien sighed. "She's not hurt, but her transformation dropped."

Plagg swallowed down the wedge, then asked, "Who saw?"

Adrien sat heavily on the bed, and rubbed his face. "Alya, Nino, and I. It's Marinette. I can't believe she's been right there the whole time. Is she really Master Fu's granddaughter?"

Plagg smirked, "Heh, that old gag. No. Fu doesn't have any family. Sometimes things are just easier for him if he designates a relative from time to time."

There was a knock at the door, then Marinette's voice. "Chat Noir?"

Adrien jumped and his voice involuntarily climbed an octave when he said, "I'm not ready!"

Marinette said, "Alright, I got everything I need, and Tikki's good to go. I'm going to get these to Alya and Nino so they're aren't waiting around unprotected longer than necessary. We'll wait for you to jump back in."

Adrien got his vocal range back under control and replied, "Alright, I'll be right behind you. Be careful!"

"Of course!" Then he heard her walk away.

Adrien looked at his kwami, still in his hand. "Plagg, is there any way you can charge faster, just this once."

"Almost there, I'm in a hurry too, kid. He won't get away with threatening the Ladybug."

Adrien ran a hand through his hair. "Please hurry, before he hurts Marinette any further."

Plagg nods, "Yeah, her too. I was mostly talking about her kwami." Plagg attempted to levitate, and bobbed in the air to test himself. "Okay, yeah, we're good."

Adrien raised a questioning eyebrow at him. "Claws out." Then Chat Noir left through the bedroom window.

—

Chat Noir, Ladybug, and Carapace were standing on a rooftop mostly covered by the overly affectionate blooms, right in the middle of one of the few clear spots. Once Chat Noir had arrived at the school they quickly hashed out a plan, and it seemed pretty solid. Chat Noir's heart was still racing, because if it went wrong he wasn't sure how they would recover. They chose this rooftop because of the density of the foliage and because it was far enough away from where Sonic Bloom was continuing to build his garden. There, they could set up their trap without him noticing, but it was still close enough that he would spring it.

With a nod from Ladybug, Chat Noir yelled, "_Cataclysm!_" as loudly as his lungs would allow, while at the same time Carapace more quietly summoned Shellter around the three of them, giving the protective dome a wide base. From a discreet location, Rena Rouge began weaving her illusion, hiding the green Shellter signature, making it invisible. At Chat Noir's shout, Sonic Bloom turned to them and started flying in their direction. When Chat Noir knew they caught his attention he swiftly brought his hand down to almost touching the rooftop, and Rena continued her illusion, making all of the plants on that rooftop appear to crumble to ash, as well all the other clusters in a radius that included several buildings.

Sonic Bloom was enraged at the sight, and came at them in a blinding speed shouting, "What are you doing to all of my beautiful flowers!" as he pointed his golden rose scepter at the ground around them, trying to entangle them, but because he was aiming at the ground directly around them the magic couldn't summon growth through Carapace's protected space.

Ladybug pointed at the villain and shouted, "It's over, Sonic Bloom! We found a way to break your magic. You won't be delivering any more flowers today!"

Carapace snorted and said, "Really?"

More quietly, Ladybug replied, "I don't pick 'em, I just fight 'em."

As Sonic Bloom approached, continuing to try to use his weapon on them to no avail, Ladybug began to rock from foot to foot and spinning her yo-yo in anticipation. She called out, Ready…" Sonic Bloom was closing in quickly, and when he was almost upon them, Ladybug shouted, "Now!" and Carapace dropped the Shellter. Ladybug launched her yo-yo at their foe, grappled and yanked him closer, while Chat Noir grabbed the scepter once it was within reach and disintegrated it with his unused Cataclysm. The little black butterfly started to fly away and Ladybug dispatched it with practiced ease.

Once that was done, the guise of Sonic Bloom sloughed off of the hang-gliding florist. Without a Lucky Charm this time, Ladybug tossed her yo-yo in the air and yelled, "Miraculous Ladybug!"

The four of them shared a fist bump but while the swarm of magical beetles cleared away all the red and white flowers, their vines and all the damage that they caused, Chat Noir watched Ladybug sigh as her shoulders slumped.

Chat Noir, feeling the guilt like a lump in his chest, scratched the back of his head and said, "My Lady, I'm sorry they couldn't put everything back the way it was this time."

She gave him a sad smile and said, "It's not your fault, Kitty. After all, it was my idea to split up, and I did force your hand." She reached up and scratched under his chin while her smile brightened and said, "So don't put this on yourself, okay?"

Rena emitted a brief shrieking noise at the sight. Ladybug raised an eyebrow at her. "Rena, don't get weird just because it's me." Rena locked eyes with the ground and shook her head vigorously.

When he thought about it, was it a little weird that it was Marinette scratching under his chin like an actual cat? Maybe. Weird enough that he would change anything about receiving this gesture of endearment? Nope. While he was still definitely still struggling to wrap his head around this new information, he found that his heart was more than happy to accommodate the everyday identity of his Lady.

"Chat?" Ladybug said, no longer scratching and bringing him out of his reverie, "Do you think you could bring him somewhere safe while I get these two wherever they need to be?"

He bowed deeply and said, "Of course, my Lady!" then winked for good measure.

She beamed and said, "Thanks, Kitty."

He then watched as she unknowingly bound away with their mutual friends.


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning at the sound of his alarm's incessant beeping, Adrien peeled his eyes away from the ceiling. He reached over and slapped the off button in defeat. Today was the history midterm and Adrien had not slept a wink. If he were honest, he didn't even try. Sure, he went to bed at a decent time, but when the lights went out and his head hit the pillow all that did was clear away all other distractions. He spent the night meticulously combing over all the times that he might have done things differently if he had known Marinette was Ladybug. He'd have brought _her_ ice skating. He'd have had that rooftop conversation among candles and rose petals differently. He'd have savored that dance at Chole's party more than he did. Though to his credit, he did enjoy that dance. Should he have proposed when he clearly had her father's blessing that day she said she loved him? Probably not; this new information made that day make less sense, not more.

"I called her our everyday Ladybug, and then she kissed my cheek! Do you think she was trying to tell me something?"

Plagg snickered. "Probably."

"I just gotta act like I don't know anything."

Plagg smirked at him. "That should be easy."

Adrien rolled over to see Plagg sitting on the pillow next to him, munching on a wedge of cheese he had helped himself to. "I already feel stupid enough, can we just assume that's covered for the day? And don't eat on my bed." He swiped at Plagg who laughed and floated out of reach.

Plagg said around a mouthful of cheese, "Don't feel too bad. This is about how it usually goes when the identities are secret. I mean, she still doesn't know, and arguably that should be more embarrassing for her. You are literally right in front of her every day in class, after all."

Adrien sat up and yawned. "So is it some kind of magic glamor or something?"

Plagg barked a laugh. "You wish. You were both just focusing too hard on something else."

Adrien gave Plagg an incredulous look. "Okay, that's not possible. There wasn't anything I was more focused on than Ladybug." He got up and headed for his closet to find his clothes.

Plagg scowled as he followed. "If you don't want me to call you stupid today don't say stupid things. You were so focused on Ladybug that you totally missed _Marinette! _Which was hilarious, because anytime that girl got near, you turned into her loyal lapdog, and you _still _didn't see it!"

Adrien's eyes widened and he stopped in his tracks. He pressed the handful of clothing to his face wishing he could bury himself completely and, muffled by the clothes, he shouted, "I'm such an idiot!" He dropped his arms and groaned while he walked to the bathroom. He set his clothes down on the counter and said, "But then she's focusing too hard to notice too." Plagg floated over to the clothes and sat down on them while Adrien shucked his sleepwear, climbed into the shower, and continued his thought. "Do you think she's too focused on her boy to notice Chat Noir is right in front of her?"

Plagg messed with a button on Adrien's overshirt. "Probably."

Adrien finished up his shower in silence, pondering the situation. He got out and toweled off and said quietly, "It's Luka, isn't it?"

Plagg scoffed and said, "How should I know that? I'm not Ladybug's kwami."

Adrien grabbed his clothes, forcing Plagg to relocate. As he dressed he said, "I need to hurry. I don't want to be late today."

—

Adrien winced as the bright sunlight hit him when he climbed out of the car. Nino greeted him at the curb. "Hey dude! You're looking rough."

Adrien glanced down at his clothes, which were tidy, and ran his hand through his hair in case it was out of place. "Yeah, I didn't sleep. She's not here yet, is she?"

Nino raised an eyebrow. "Marinette? No, Dude. She might be just waking up, knowing her. If she slept, that is."

Adrien nodded and rubbed his face.

Nino looked at him and suddenly his eyes widened. "You aren't going to tell her, are you?"

Adrien winced, then looked at the ground and shook his head. "Not at school." He looked up at Nino. "I want to do it as a part of a rational conversation where we both have the space and time to be open and honest and think things through. We have patrol tonight and I think that would be a good time to talk about it." Adrien sighed and said, "I just have to survive the day."

Nino chuckled at his friend, and then stopped abruptly as feminine voices made themselves heard. Adrien looked past Nino in the direction of the bakery and there she was, walking towards him, with Alya. Her shoulders were hunched and her eyes were squinted. They were having a conversation. By the look on Nino's face, he could hear it too.

"...are you sure you don't need anything, girl?"

"Alya, for the last time, I'm fine!"

"Shouldn't you be staying home? You don't look like you slept at all! What if there were, you know, _an_ _emergency?_"

Marinette stopped walking and turned to Alya, forcing her to stop as well. "Then it wouldn't be the first time I handled _an emergency_ on no sleep! I said I'm fine!"

Adrien rolled his eyes and muttered, "Mood."

Nino turned and stood by Adrien while he greeted the girls. "Good morning, Alya! Marinette! Someone didn't sleep so good?"

Marinette groaned as she turned to face Nino, then glanced over at Adrien and blushed. "Uh, yeah. You know how it is. Project. New sketch, and couldn't sleep and so the pinning and stabbed myself, ha!" She raised her finger sporting a bandaid, and dropped it again. "You know what? I think I'm going to go inside, maybe put my desk down. Head down. Yeah."

Adrien was trying not to be distressed, but he had clearly made her uncomfortable. _She thinks I'm the only one in the group who doesn't know she's Ladybug. It's going to be a long day._

Marinette turned and headed upstairs. Alya called after her, "Do you want some company?"

Marinette shouted over her shoulder, "No thanks!" And scurried faster up the steps and inside.

The impulse to do something to help her out was overwhelming. _But what?_ Adrien pulled out his phone, and checked the time. There was still plenty of time before class started, if he hurried. "Hey uh, guys? I'm going to do a thing. I'll be back in a bit."

—

Nino was sitting in his seat at the front of the class watching Alya watch Marinette, while Marinette dozed with her head in her folded arms. They had been careful not to really talk much so as not to bother the sleeping girl. Alya looked at Nino and slowly shook her head in disbelief. Nino shrugged and nodded his head in agreement. The savior of Paris was taking a nap, and the situation was all too weird.

Adrien came walking in holding two cups and stopped short when he saw her sleeping and his eyes grew soft. He sat in his seat, turned around, and carefully placed one of the cups in front of Marinette, but not too close to her. Still, the sound of the cup being set on the desk was enough to rouse her. She picked her head up and looked at the cup. Then after a blink or two, shifted her gaze to Adrien's face, and her eyes grew wide.

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck and said, "Sorry for waking you. I didn't sleep much last night either, and thought we could both use an iced coffee."

Marinette's cheeks pinked as she smiled broadly and said, "Thank you, A-Adrien. That's _so _sweet of you!"

Adrien also blushed as he flashed her the dopiest grin Nino had ever seen on his friend's face, and then the inevitable happened. Marinette reached for the iced coffee with a look on her face like it was the most precious item she possessed, but when her hand made contact she accidentally tipped it forward, right onto Adrien. He leaped out of his seat, but not fast enough to save his white overshirt.

Chloe's shrill voice cried out, "Oh my God, Marinette! Why does anyone even bother with you? Look what you did to poor Adrikins! That shirt is utterly _ruined!"_

Adrien turned to her and growled, "Cut it out, Chloe! You know as well as I do that I can call the warehouse and have another one just like it by this afternoon."

She turned to inspect her nails and said, "Whatever."

Just then Ms. Bustier walked in. "Good morning, class! Oh Adrien, do you need to go rinse that off? You might be able to catch it before the stain sets."

"Yes, thank you, Ms. Bustier." He glanced back at Marinette and frowned when he found her slouched down in her desk just as far as she could be. He picked up her overturned cup and then filled it with half the contents of his own and set it back on her desk. He then turned to the door and trotted out of the room.

Ms. Bustier lowered the projector screen in front of the chalkboard. "Alright class, since we already completed our midterm, we're going to spend today's classtime watching a film adaptation of _Journey to the Center of the Earth_, since we covered that one on the exam. Once I get this started I have a meeting with some of the other teachers, so I expect you to behave and keep the noise level down. Are we in agreement?"

The class chorused innocently, "Yes, Ms. Bustier."

Ms. Bustier nodded and said, "Mm-hm, that's what I thought. I won't be gone long." She pressed play on the movie and flicked the light switch for the front half of the room, so there was still plenty of light but the screen was easy to see.

When the door closed behind her, Nathaniel immediately pulled out his sketch pad. Chloe and Sabrina moved their phones above their desk, and Alex retrieved a big bag of Skittles from her bag. She turned to Kim and said, "Are we doing this or what?"

Before Nino knew it anyone who wasn't engrossed in their own thing was avidly watching Kim and Alix make bets on who could catch Skittles in their mouth from the farthest distance. It was honestly the perfect atmosphere for Marinette to have a semi-private meltdown.

She whispered harshly, mostly to Alya, but loud enough to include Nino, "I can't believe I ruined Adrien's shirt! He tried to do a really nice thing for me, just out of nowhere, like a dream come true and what do I do?" She muttered while pulling her knees up to her chest, "I pour freezing cold coffee down the back of his shirt like his own personal caffeinated Niagara Falls! And now he's going to think I'm lame and he's never going to want to do nice things for me ever again!" With that, she laid down on the bench in what looked like an attempt to actually shrink out of existence.

Alya shook her head and gave her cowering friend an exasperated sigh. "I love you girl, but this is the part that makes no sense. How the hell are you, well _you, _and also this much of a nervous wreck around your crush?"

Marinette uncurled herself enough to look up at Alya and give her a flat stare. "Thank you, Alya." She sat up to properly face her and raised an eyebrow. "I hadn't noticed that particular ironic dichotomy in my life."

Nino moved to the center of the bench to better address the girls. "Dudes, he's going to be back any second, so if you have any more of that to get out of your system you'd better do it now."

Marinette froze like a deer in headlights and looked at the door.

Nino leaned over to her and said, "Look, Marinette. He's my best bro. He's not going to think you're lame. It was an honest mistake and you know he wouldn't hold that against you. Drink your coffee."

Marinette looked dubiously at the coffee, then back at the door, then back at the coffee again. She picked up the cup and took a sip. Her shoulders dropped as she sighed. "Ugh, this is just what I needed. How is he so perfect?"

A moment later, Adrien walked in with his damp overshirt hanging over his forearm. He sat in his seat and draped it over his desk while watching Alix launch Skittles across the classroom at Kim. Adrien marveled at how Kim caught them: not unlike how a seal would catch fish. He leaned over to Nino. "How many is he up to?"

Nino shrugged, turned to the back of the room, and said, "Max, score?"

Max kept his eyes glued to the competitors with a pencil and notepad in hand to keep tally. "Thirty-two out of forty-one," he answered in a clipped tone.

Kim frowned and said, "I didn't miss that ma-" then coughed when an unexpected skittle landed in his mouth.

Alix piped up, "You did too, Kim! And it's best out of fifty, I'm almost half out of Skittles."

Max shrugged and adjusted his glasses. "Thirty-three out of forty-two. Kim, you okay?"

Kim cleared his throat loudly. "Yeah, I'm good. Keep 'em coming."

Adrien grabbed his iced coffee and arranged himself so he could comfortably face backwards to watch today's apparent sporting event while drinking it. He looked at Marinette, who was facing him and holding her cup in both hands. He smiled and said, "I got hazelnut, I hope you don't mind."

She shook her head, "No, n-not at all. I love- it."

Adrien chuckled. "Good. I'll remember that."

Nino did his best to ignore the way Adrien and Marinette silently finished their iced coffees, seemingly oblivious to the rest of the class.

—

It was finally lunchtime and Marinette looked dead on her feet. "I swear, if they hadn't moved the history midterm to second hour right after I had some caffeine, I would not have made it." As if to prove her point, Marinette was overcome with a wide yawn. Adrien did his best to stifle one of his own. She rubbed her face and said, "I think I'm going to go home and take a nap for lunch, and then just grab something super quick to munch on for the way back."

Adrien nodded along while she spoke. "I think that's a great idea Marinette. Do you need someone to walk you home?"

Alya raised an eyebrow at him. "You know what? I think I'm going to do the honors. If that's okay, Marinette?"

Marinette looked at Alya like she had grown a second head. Nino could hardly blame her. He couldn't remember the last time Alya got in the way of one on one time for Marinette and Adrien. Quite the opposite, in fact. Marinette tilted her head in confusion, but said, "Sure, Alya. Sounds good to me," she turned to Nino and Adrien, "See you later guys, enjoy lunch!" Then Marinette and Alya left for the bakery.

Adrien and Nino stood there a while watching the girls as they got further away. Without taking his eyes off of them he said, "Nino? This is killing me. Can we go somewhere we can talk?"

Nino, also continuing to watch the girls on their trek, said, "How about the park? There's usually some areas that have enough privacy." Adrien nodded, then the boys headed for the park.

After a little bit of looking they found a place that was out of the main area and open enough that no one would be eavesdropping without their knowledge. After a quick moment to glance around and make sure it was safe, Adrien turned to Nino and said, "It is such a good thing I'm going to be telling her tonight, because I don't know how much more of this I can take!" He ran his hand through his hair. "It's not easy sitting right in front of Ladybug and she doesn't even know I'm there. She doesn't know I'm within ten or twenty miles of her!"

Adrien felt his agitation like an itch in his chest. He paced to try and walk it off. "I mean, when I look at her, I see Ladybug's pretty ankles," Adrien had one hand jammed inside his jeans pocket, while the other gestured at the imaginary heroine in front of him, "Ladybug's throat that does _not_ spend all it's time hidden under a collar," he sighed, "and Ladybug's delicate little fingers!"

Plagg took this moment to exit Adrien's shirt and float over to Nino, and gave an exasperated sigh, before settling on his shoulder. Nino folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Her fingers, dude? What era are you from?"

Adrien turned on him said through gritted teeth, "Do you have any idea how many times I've kissed those fingers through a layer of magical suit?"

Nino rubbed his chin in thought. "Okay, point taken."

Adrien's restless feet began moving again. "So there's all of _that_ and then," he stopped where he stood and hung his head. "She doesn't even realize I've been right there _all this time,_ unknowingly collecting pieces of personal information without her knowledge or consent, and now that I _do _know, and am '_disguised' as her friend,_ while she has no idea… it makes me feel like the worst kind of voyeur."

Plagg tapped Nino on the side of the head. "Here comes your girlfriend. She doesn't look happy."

Adrien and Nino both looked toward the bakery, and sure enough, Alya looked like she was on a mission. She walked right up to Adrien and said, "We need to talk."

Truth be told, Nino was glad she was talking to Adrien like that and not him. Plagg patted Nino on the shoulder in solidarity. Adrien on the other hand was startled and taken aback. "Me? What did I do?"

She poked him in the chest and said, "I'll tell you what you did! Two days ago Marinette wasn't even a blip on your radar, and now that you know she's such a big shot I can't turn around without seeing you make goo goo eyes at her! So now that she's the _Miraculous Ladybug_, suddenly she's good enough? You're not in love with her! You're in love with some idealized perfect version of her, or you'd have seen Marinette and how great she is a _long_ time ago!"

Adrien's face shifted from his initial surprise to hurt, then to cold rage. Nino hadn't ever really noticed how much taller Adrien was than Alya until he was suddenly imposing, just by shifting his posture. He bit off each syllable as he said, "You don't know anything about my love for her."

Plagg casually left Nino's shoulder to take his place on Adrien's, serving as a not so subtle reminder of who exactly Alya was talking to.

Adrien continued,"Yes, I spend a lot of time with her while she's on top of her game, bravely and cleverly saving Paris again and again. But nobody except _Chat Noir_ really knows the Ladybug who is silly, playful, and affectionate." Adrien got louder, as he worked himself up, "I've seen her petty, worried, scared out of her mind, stubborn to a fault, and I know _exactly_ how human she is!" Adrien's nostrils flared as his anger shifted from cold to hot and he moved into Alya's space and continued. "I've seen her when the stakes are highest and she gives and gives and gives at her lowest points, and I've _always _known that while she has to be there and win each and every time so that Paris is safe and unharmed, that _I_ have to be there to do whatever it takes to make sure that she wins every single time so _that girl_ under the mask can go home to her parents!"

Alya's wide eyes and nose had turned pink. When she sniffled, Adrien seemed to realize he had frightened her.

Abashed, he took a step back to give her space. He hung his head and said, "I'm sorry Alya, I didn't mean to go off on you like that." He kicked at the dirt. "Sure, there are some people out there in love with a Ladybug they've cobbled together from footage on the Ladyblog," he looked up at her, "but that's not me. Ladybug is my best friend." He briefly cut his eyes to Nino. "One of them."

Nino huffed a laugh.

Adrien cracked a smile and continued, "Marinette is amazing and very dear to me, but I don't know her on a personal level like I know Ladybug… Except that now I do."

Alya removed her glasses and rubbed her eye with the heel of her hand. "No, I'm sorry I overstepped. It's just that Marinette is important to me and I'm having a hard time considering all the angles. She's _my_ best friend," she said as she replaced her glasses, "I just really don't want to see her get hurt."

Adrien looked at her with an open and honest expression and said, "She's the most important person in the world to me. I'd never hurt her if I could help it."

An unreadable look passed between Alya and Nino, then Nino said, "Come on, let's find some lunch."

—

Chat Noir was fifteen minutes early for patrol. Tonight's starting point was the roof of their school. Not that he could tell her it was their school. But at least he could say he knew where her school was. He'd have been there sooner, but his Chinese tutor was taking his sweet time. Adrien had hoped that after the previous day's excitement Master Fu would pay him a visit, just to sort of hash out where everybody stood. No such luck.

The second half of the day had been torture. Thinking about what Alya said, he realized he had been pretty careless about the way he was acting around Marinette. He spent the rest of the day trying to act like he normally did: sure, smile at her and talk to her if they are brought into the same conversation, but not react to every little thing she did or said. It was harder than he anticipated. Nino kept kicking him under the table when he would tap his pencil too loudly. One time Marinette cleared her throat and Adrien jumped. Nino laughed, but turned it into a cough.

"Hey Chat," Ladybug said as she alighted on the rooftop. She looked at him and awkwardly rubbed her arm.

Chat Noir walked over to her, smiling. "Hey Bugaboo, you okay?"

She cracked a small smile. "Yeah, it's just weird, you know? Was it weird to find out that I'm that girl you kept having to save from the likes of her own grandma and the sweethearts ice cream man, of all people?"

Chat Noir barked a laugh. "You do know how to pick 'em. Nah, it's not that weird. I mean, it would have been less weird if you were just some Parisian I never met, then I wouldn't have to merge you two in my head." H shook his head and smiled at her, "But of all the people I know, Marinette makes the most sense, which is reasonable, considering the circumstances."

"But is this weird knowing who I am now?" She gestured between the two of them.

"What? No, not really." He grinned broadly and winked, "You just got cuter."

She rolled her eyes. "Down, tomcat," then her eyes snagged on something over his shoulder. "Speaking of cats, have you _seen_ the new adorable Gabriel billboards?"

Chat Noir looked behind himself, and saw what ended up being the biggest hit from the whole photoshoot. "It's hard to miss them."

Ladybug walked up next to him so they were both facing the billboard and put her head on his shoulder. She sighed, "Vincent sure had a rough day last week, but he really does some great work. It's just such a sweet and cozy picture! The cheetah's all sleepy and snuggly while Adrien's reading a book. I don't know how he held that pose without getting scared."

Chat Noir grunted noncommittally.

Ladybug was beaming up at him when he looked down at her, but when they made eye contact, she blushed and quickly looked away, separating herself from his shoulder. She said, "Oh um, that guy is in my class. He's ah, he's a good friend of mine." She started fidgeting with her fingers and a smile crept back on her face. "He's really sweet. He actually brought me coffee this morning, isn't that nice?"

After a beat of silence where Chat didn't quite know how to respond, she cleared her throat. "Anyway, that guy's my friend." She looked around like she wasn't sure what to say next.

The last thing Chat Noir wanted was to have this conversation while she doesn't know who he is. "Hey, Bug? There's something I was really hoping we could talk about."

She turned to him and cocked her head. "Sure, what is it, Chat?"

Chat Noir reached up, grabbed his neck, and looked away from her. "It's about my identity. I really don't like knowing who you are without you knowing who I am. Especially since Carapace and Rena both know who I am. It just isn't fair, and it really puts me on edge."

Ladybug furrowed her brows in consideration. "You're right, Kitty. It's not fair. I just don't know, though. The fewer people who know, the safer you are. Keeping you safe is something I always want and never seem to manage to do. This is the one way I feel like I can keep you just a little bit safer. With everything else that just happened, I just kind of need to cling on to this one thing. At least right now."

Chat Noir was having a hard time catching his breath. He really wasn't expecting his offer to be turned down, but then he realized he should have considered the possibility. He swallowed as he stepped closer and said, "Ladybug, please? I don't mind being a little less safe. I would _gladly_ take me being a little less safe if it meant that you knew who I am!"

Ladybug balled her hands into fists, stepped right up to him and growled, "Well I wouldn't!" Her hands fell limp, then she reached up and put a hand on his cheek. He gladly soaked up its warmth.

"Just, please, give me a few more days to get used to the idea. I don't need another thing sprung on me right this second." She chuckled and removed her hand. Chat Noir missed it immediately. Ladybug turned her head away as she said, "You know, it's funny. I actually go to school with Rena and Carapace. It's probably not surprising that's why I chose them, since I knew them personally so well. You should see them, Chat. Alya especially. You would think that learning that I'm a superhero would make her think I can take care of myself, but she's a bigger mother hen than ever!" She rolled her eyes and looked back at him. "You should count yourself lucky that you don't have to spend all day with them."

He had lost. It wouldn't be today. He hoped it would be soon, but it was time to ration his patience for now. _Maybe in a week? No, longer. It could be a month or so. I don't really think this situation is sustainable beyond that. If it were summer, maybe, but not with the four of us in close quarters._

"Chaton?" Ladybug was still very close, and looking at him with concern.

He smiled at her and said, "I manage to spend a little time with them. Maybe try to cut Alya some slack. Now she knows that if her friend isn't okay, then neither is Paris. Besides," he slipped his hand under hers, brought it up to her eye level and gave it a gentle kiss. "She cares a lot about you, and I'm glad she does."

She slipped her hand out of his, swatted his bell, and gave him a pointed look. "And on that note, we should start patrol!" She flung her yo-yo out, shook her head at him, and launched herself away. He immediately gave chase.


	9. Chapter 9

_Wifi'sDJ: I know patrol is over and he hasn't called me bubbling over in a happy lovesick haze. Is everything okay?_

_Gozer: Not really, no. She told him not to tell her. _

_Wifi'sDJ: Oh. Oh no. Should I call?_

_Gozer: Hard to say. He's playing piano. It's very dramatic in here. _

_Wifi'sDJ: I think I'll let him work it out with the music for now. I'll be there in the morning for him. Let me know if it gets worse._

_Gozer: Oh, I will._

—

The next morning at school Nino got there first, then Alya. When she got there, Nino kissed her on the forehead and she asked, "So, do we know how patrol went? Did he tell her?"

Nino hung his head and said, "No. She wouldn't let him. I don't really know more than that at this point."

Alya pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "That girl. I was really looking forward to everything being out in the open for all of us."

Nino nodded. "Me too, Babe." Nino looked toward the street and raised his eyebrows. "There's his car now, maybe we can get him to give us the deets."

He laughed when Alya smacked him in the arm, then she rolled her eyes and said, "Whatever, Dude."

He just grinned wider.

They watched as Adrien climbed out of the car, and then their mood became less jovial. He didn't look as physically tired as he had the day before, but he just looked plain unhappy.

Alya and Nino met him halfway. Nino hugged him and asked, "So, can you tell us what happened?"

Adrien ran a hand through his hair, and addressed the empty space in front of him. "She's just not ready right now. She's overwhelmed, which makes sense. Trying to keep me a little safer for now is just sort of the thing she's clinging to for a sense of normalcy, I guess."

Alya folded her arms across her chest. "How long before she's ready?" Adrien shrugged. Alya looked between the boys. "What if we _accidentally _dropped subtle hints, and then she figures it out for herself?"

Adrien shook his head. "No, it's not going to be easy, but we need to try to keep her in the dark as long as she wants to be. Oh, and Alya?"

Alya furrowed her brows, "Hmm?"

Adrien gave a half hearted grin. "Maybe you can dial back the fussing over her just a little? She absolutely needs your support right now, and she's so glad that you're there for her, but she's starting to expect you to offer to tie her shoes."

Alya winced. "Did she say that?"

"Not in those words, but yeah."

Nino looked beyond the two to see one Marinette, holding two cups. He thrust his chin to point in the direction of the bakery. "She's coming, guys."

Adrien and Alya turned to look at her.

Marinette's cheeks pinked when she saw Adrien, and she smiled broadly. She walked up to the three friends and said, "Hey guys!" and turned to Adrien and handed him a cup. "This one's for you! After yesterday, I felt like I owe you one. Or, one and a half." She put her empty hand on the side of her face and looked abashed. "And maybe a shirt. How's the shirt?"

Adrien gave her the softest look as he held his cup in both hands. When the pause was long enough that it was obvious he was supposed to say something, he blinked a couple times, and said, "Oh, the shirt! The shirt is fine. Nathalie had it taken care of as soon as I got home. Thank you for this, it really wasn't necessary."

Marinette's eyes widened as she giggled, and she might have squeaked. "Well, I mean- neither was yesterday! The coffee! I mean, neither was the coffee yesterday, but you did it and it was really nice, and I wanted to be really nice too. Uh, also get you coffee." She started backing away from them towards the school doors. "Well, I'm just going to go. I need to do some last minute cramming for the geometry exam!" Then she turned and bolted for the classroom.

The three watched her go and Alya said, "She did pretty good, right up until the conversation got back to her. Still, though. Not too bad."

Adrien took a sip of the iced coffee through the straw, then said, "I bet she's really nervous about 'Adrien' finding out. Especially since you two are around me about as much as you're around her." He took another sip. "In fact, whenever it makes sense, you two should probably stay away from me, and hang out with her. It would probably make her feel a little more secure in her 'secret.'"

Nino cocked his eyebrow. "Are you sure about that, Dude? I don't want to abandon you."

"Yeah, I'm sure. Knowing she feels better makes me feel better."

Alya said, "In that case, I'm going to go on in," then she hiked up the stairs.

Once Alya left, Nino turned to Adrien and said quietly, "You sure you don't want to talk about it? Yesterday was hard, and you thought it was short term."

Adrien nodded. "Yeah, I got a lot of it out of my system last night." He took a deep breath. "I just have to be patient. Very patient."

Nino adjusted his cap, "Whatever you say, Dude. See you in class."

—

When Nino took his seat in the classroom, the girls were in the middle of a whispered conversation. He tried to give them space and stay out of it when he caught the irritation in Marinette's voice.

"I thought you would be excited that I finally feel like I'm making headway with Adrien!"

"I am, girl, but I'm just not sure it's a good idea. I mean, uh, if you were to date, what would you tell him when you have to suddenly run off every time there's an emergency? I just really don't think it would work."

Marinette was silent a moment and then Nino heard her gasp, then whisper harshly. "You're just saying that because of… _The Guy in Black_, aren't you? Look, I know you know who he is now, and I know whoever he is, is a sweet and wonderful guy, he's my best friend after all! - Other best friend - But I'm sorry, I'm in love with Adrien and he and your Ladynoir daydreams are just going to have to live with that! Oh! And now I can finally say, '_thank you_' for coining my very own ship name that I never wanted anything to do with!"

At that Nino turned around the face the girls, "Hey, Marinette, take it easy. I know you're going through a rough time, but Alya's caught in the middle of this mess too, more so than you may realize, with keeping _The Guy in Black's _secrets also."

Marinette's eyes widened and she looked over at Alya, who was looking put out and maybe a little hurt. She reached out and rubbed Alya's forearm. "I'm sorry, Alya. I'm just still kind of adjusting. You've really been super supportive for all of this, and I need to get better at recognizing it. Starting now, I'm going to do better at that, and also just wrapping my head around this whole thing in general. I need to improve, and I can, so I will." She smiled questioningly at Alya.

Alya started to crack a smile and looked away, holding firmly onto her frown. Marinette's smile grew from unsure to devilish as she said in distinctly not a whisper, "Apology tickles!" and attacked her friend with wiggly fingers.

Alya screeched and fell over on the bench, "Ah! Stop it! Okay, okay!" Marinette continued her onslaught, until she heard Alya gasp, "Apology accepted!"

—

When Adrien walked into the classroom it was to the sound of his Lady and Alya laughing. By the strange look the rest of the class was giving them, it was clearly a private joke. Good. If she's laughing with Alya then she's not stressing herself out. Between giggles Marinette looked at him, cleared her throat, and sipped at the straw in her iced coffee as an attempt to compose herself. Alya looked at her and giggled a little harder before she tried to compose herself too.

He sat down in front of them and his heart was warmed by the clear sound of mirth behind him. He wanted to join in, but what if it was about Ladybug business? It probably was, after all. Then they'd have to scramble to lie to him and he didn't want to put her on the spot like that, so he just took a deep breath and did his best to ignore it. Fortunately, he had waited until almost the beginning of class to show up for just such an occasion, and so Ms. Bustier was there to distract them all by taking roll.

"Alright class, I need to tell you that while you did a commendable job of keeping the noise level down for most of the class period yesterday, you managed to upset three other teachers when Alix apparently won whatever competition she and I assume Kim were having. I only know about the outcome because I was told about the chanting." She managed to look pointedly at each of them in one sweeping look. "So today we'll be going to the library so you can either study for your geometry exam, find something to read, or if you are mindful, talk _quietly_ amongst yourselves."

With that, the class gathered their belongings and headed for the library. Adrien hung back a bit so he could choose where to sit based on where Marinette wasn't. Nino looked back at him and Adrien nodded him forward. When he got to the library, he saw that Marinette, Alya, and Nino had found a table to share. He made a point not to make eye contact with any of them so as to avoid invitation and found himself a book. Once he found a book, he had a choice.

There was a comfy chair near their table, but on the other side of a bookshelf, and there were a few equally comfy chairs scattered around the rest of the library. He had intended to stay far away from the trio and their conversation, but if he sat far away then someone else might sit in this chair, and they might be overheard by that person instead of him, which seemed risky. When he thought about it like that, the only logical option was to sit strategically in the close chair. He settled into the seat and focused on immersing himself in _The Count of Monte Cristo. _If he was straining to hear, it was only because it was important to get an idea of how much anyone just a little further away from him might hear.

He could just barely make out Marinette's voice as she whispered, "I'm telling you two, Adrien seems really off lately, and I would know!" Why would she know, in particular? Maybe he misheard that. "He didn't even come sit with us. Nino, you can't tell me you don't see it. It's not like him to go sit by himself. What if he's depressed? I really don't get why you two aren't more concerned. There is something going on with him, and I'm going to figure out what."

Alya snickered, "Even if that means talking to him?"

"Y-yes! Oh, don't waggle those eyebrows at me, this is important."

Adrien wondered what exactly Alya's eyebrows were trying to say.

Nino spoke up, trying to preserve Adrien's cover. "Maybe he just wants to be left alone for a little bit, you know? Everyone needs a little alone time once in a while."

There was a soft _thwack _as a pencil landed on the table when Marinette's voice said, "I don't buy it. Nope. Adrien likes being around people. Adrien spent a whole week alone a few days ago. He should be surrounding himself with friends and soaking it up, and if you two won't do it, I'm going to go talk to him."

Alya spoke. "Are you sure this isn't just about our conversation from earlier? Maybe trying to prove something?"

"No Alya, it's not. This is just about being a good friend. I can be a good friend to Adrien, despite… complications."

Adrien was so confused and kind of regretted sitting in this spot. He heard the legs of a chair scraping against the floor and footsteps moving away from the table. He clamored to find where he left off in the book, because somehow that seemed important for feigning nonchalance. He saw Marinette march past him and when she turned her head to look around she startled, apparently not expecting him to be right there.

She flashed the biggest smile in her arsenal and said, "Oh! H-hey Adrien!" she cleared her throat, and brought the wattage on her grin down to a more natural smile. "Do you mind if we talk for a bit?"

Her cheeks were pink, but with regard to the "complications" she mentioned, she was apparently pushing through, whatever that meant. He stared up at her with wide eyes. He laughed nervously and said, "Sure. We can talk."

She instantly knelt down next to the chair, resting her arms and chin on the armrest he wasn't leaning against: still leaving room for personal space, but bringing her big blue eyes much closer than he expected. _How did I ever miss those? _His heart was thudding so loud he almost missed it when she cleared her throat and asked, "So um, how are you feeling? Are you doing okay?"

With those words, he watched her expression almost imperceptibly shift from "scared rabbit" to "Ladybug game face." Clearly this was important. Therefore, he should answer.

"Uh, yeah! I'm feeling fine! I'm just catching up on a little reading, is all." He laughed and hoped it was convincing.

She frowned and considered him for a moment. "I'm sorry, it's just not like you to isolate yourself when given the choice. Or maybe I was overreacting." She looked down and bit her lip, then looked back at him, "I want you to know, if anything is ever bothering you, I'd ah, I'd love to be here for you if you need someone to talk to." She smiled at him invitingly.

_Well see, I'm in love with my partner, and I found out who she is and she won't let me tell her who I am, and now she's trying to cheer me up with a heartbreakingly sweet smile, and she's so close I want to reach out and kiss her, but that's a bad plan, and she has no idea, and there are apparently 'complications' besides the ones I know, and I'm going to die. _"Thank you, Marinette." He very carefully gave her a small smile, "That really means a lot."

At that, she relaxed a little and said, "Do you want to join us at the table?"

That seemed like a really bad plan. The last couple of days the experience of being in close proximity to her alternated between being a little too comfortable and not at all comfortable, and right now, it was the latter. But then, he knew that if he didn't join them that she would continue to worry, and he didn't like that. Okay, he kind of loved that she would, but would still like to prevent it. "Yeah, I think I will. Thank you."

He stood up to follow her back to the table, and she beamed at him triumphantly. She was still looking at him when her feet started moving toward the table, and as such she didn't see the corner of the book cart when she ran into it and stumbled over. "Woah!"

Adrien shouted, "I got you!" as he jumped to catch her as her arms pinwheeled, and he managed to grab her by a hand and her waist, just before she face planted. While he helped her back up, he asked, "Are you okay?"

She blushed furiously and said, "Uh fine! T-totally fine. Thank you." She chuckled as she blinked at him like a scared rabbit again.

Adrien looked down at their hands when he realized he hadn't let go of her fingers.

And there they were.

Small and delicate.

Strong and capable.

Right in his hand.

Without thinking, he swallowed as he brushed his thumb across her knuckles.

His head snapped up when she made a small high pitched sound. She snatched her hand back, as she declared loudly, "I think I really need to go to the ladies room. I'll be back in a bit! Haha!" and off she went before he could blink.

Adrien looked around and was not surprised that all eyes are on him. He sheepishly waved, and headed for the table. When he looked up at Nino and Alya, Nino was burying his face in his hands and Alya's eyes were so wide, her eyebrows were up to her hairline.

He sat down across from them. Alya rubbed the bridge of her nose and whispered, "Adrien, what was that? You can't just do that! It's just cruel."

Adrien leaned on his elbows, thoroughly confused, and asked, "What are you talking about? Do what?"

Alya folded her arms across her chest, turned her head toward Nino and said, "Nino, I think we should tell him."

Nino's head snapped up. "We should _not_ tell him."

She harshly gestured at Adrien with a hand. "But he can't navigate this without all of the pieces, not without people getting hurt."

Nino gestured with both hands toward the library exit. "It's not ours to tell, and Marinette doesn't have all the pieces either."

Alya made a disgusted noise and said, "And you see how well that's going!"

Adrien was tired of being talked over. "Guys, what are you talking about?"

Alya raised her eyebrow at Nino who slowly shook his head back at her. Alya turned to Adrien and said matter of factly, "Marinette's in love with you. Adrien, you."

Adrien's chest was suddenly tight and he couldn't exhale. He wheezed, "_What?_"

Alya pressed on. "She has been for a really long time, it's why she gets so nervous around you, making a good impression is so important to her that she completely psychs herself out. And now that you know who she is, you keep doing things like that little stunt with her hand, and she thinks she's finally making progress with you, and you're inadvertently leading her on."

Adrien tried to snatch at the important words as his head was spinning. "Finally making progress? How long has Ladybug been interested in," he gestured broadly to himself, "me?"

Alya leaned in and sharply enunciated, "_Marinette_." She sighed and said, "Since forever? But unless you're ready to _treat her like a princess,_ you need to stop looking at her like she hung the moon!"

Adrien leaned back, looked down, and muttered forlornly, "I wouldn't put it past her."

Alya continued, "And since you can't start a relationship with her until she knows who you are, because that would just be deceitful at this point, you're going to have to lay off until she knows."

Adrien didn't like it, but he knew she was right about that. Dating her as Adrien when she knows Chat Noir knows exactly who she is, would not come off as anything but underhanded. So he just needed to wait. When she's had a little time to think and adjust, she'll see that at this point, one little thread of ignorance isn't worth all this, and honestly, isn't sustainable indefinitely. She'll let him tell her, and then they can be together. _Then she'll want to be together! _He suddenly realized with a gasp.

He looked over at Nino and whispered harshly, "_I'm_ the boy. I can't believe it. I'm the _boy_?" He gasped again and pointed at Nino, smiling broadly, if a little crazed. "_You knew _it was me all along!" Adrien covered his mouth and swiveled his head to look around the room. He had so much pent up energy buzzing around inside from this discovery that he was worried that other people might feel it.

_Okay, calm down. Gotta calm down. She's going to be back any second and I'm going to act totally natural. _

The library door opened and Adrien physically jumped, only to see Ivan poke his head through the door before he lumbered over to his table with Mylene. Adrien's shirt started snickering.

Adrien rubbed his face with his hand and said, "Shut up, Plagg."

Plagg's muffled voice cackled as he said, "This is the best! It's not even my cycle guys, you shouldn't have!" he laughed some more as he peeked out of Adrien's shirt and said, "You should really hear it in here, it's all like, "Ba-BOOM, Ba-BOOM, Ba-BOOM!"

Alya stared wide eyed at Plagg, still not used to his mischief. Nino grabbed the brim of his baseball cap with both hands in exasperation and said, "Plagg? Can we laugh about this later?"

Plagg was still giggling as he turned to Adrien and took in the look on his face, and sobered up slightly. "Kid. Really, it's going to be fine. You two will work this out, that's how this goes!" He patted Adrien on the nearest arm, and went back to his hiding spot.

Nino put his hands on the desk and said, "Adrien? Dude? I know it's not easy, but you got this. Just give her a little bit more time."

Adrien nodded. "Yeah, okay. I've got this. Alya, what are you doing?"

Alya kept her eyes glued to her phone as her thumbs flew across the keyboard. "Texting Marinette while she winds herself down" She grinned. "She's also got this."

Nino huffed a laugh. "This is nuts."

Adrien tried to look at Alya's phone but Alya moved it to block his view. She raised an eyebrow while still looking at her phone and typing just a few more characters, then she put her phone in her purse, and her eyebrow remained lifted as she gave him an unamused look. His cheeks pinked as he realized he was snooping and got caught. He muttered, "Sorry."

She rolled her eyes. "It's fine. Your girl is coming."

The library door opened, and Marinette walked in. Her cheeks were still a little rosy, but she walked directly to the table with an even measured pace. Adrien rested his chin in his hand as he watched her approach. Her eyes kept darting away when she started to lose her nerve, but they kept coming right back. It was honestly the cutest thing he had ever- _Ow!_

Adrien looked accusingly at Alya for kicking him under the table, but she was already scowling at him. Oh. He must have been doing the "goo goo eyes" thing again. _Right. Totally normal._

"Hi Adrien!" Marinette's voice startled him and he turned to face her. "I'm glad you're sitting with us now. Or them, and now also me. I mean, I knew you said you would, so I didn't expect you to not be." She took the empty seat between Adrien and Nino and grinned widely. "So. Uh, what were you talking about?"

Hearing that question come from Marinette was enough to empty Adrien's mind of everything but their most recent conversation and the desperate need to not answer that question truthfully. His heart was thumping again as Plagg had so recently described as he made an effort to smile warmly and turn his head toward Alya. "Right, Alya. What was it that you were saying?"

Alya's eyes widened in alarm before she smiled and looked at Marinette. "Uh, actually I was just about to tell Adrien about Nino's new gig!" She turned to face Nino, "You know, the one you were telling me about yesterday?"

The incredulous look Nino was initially shooting Alya was quickly replaced by relieved comprehension when he said, "That's right! My new gig!" He looked around at the three of them and said, "There's just this club down on Belleville that said I could fill in for their regulars when they needed and eventually become part of the regular rotation if it goes well."

Marinette's face lit up. "Nino, that's so exciting! When do you start?"

Nino half shrugged and said with a smile, "In a couple of weeks."

Adrien grinned and he said, "That's great man, are they going to be able to work around school?"

Nino nodded. "Yeah, they know my availability is fairly limited. I mean, they don't have much need for me during school hours, but they also understand that I can't pull any late night weekday shifts. They're surprisingly accommodating."

While Nino talked about the club, the DJ booth setup, and the job in general, Adrien sat back so that he could watch Marinette while she listened and asked questions. He was so close to having what he'd always wanted. Ladybug was right there, and in love with him. He could wait this out.

—

Later that day, they were all sitting in Mr. Dubois' class, waiting for the geometry exam to begin. The room was filled with the chatter of his classmates, some anxious about the test. Adrien wasn't worried; he could do these equations in his sleep. In fact, there were several times last week that he woke in the middle of the night to the realization that he'd been doing just that in his dreams. Instead of joining any conversations, he had closed his eyes and attuned himself to the desk behind him. He heard Marinette sigh wistfully, then Alya cleared her throat. Marinette's seat shifted as she chuckled nervously.

Alya quietly sing-songed, "You're going to actually have to take the test you know, not just stare at the back of his head." Adrien blushed as he pinned down the impulse to run his hand through his hair in case any of it was out of place. Marinette snorted as Alya continued, "Unless you managed to hide a cheat sheet among those locks." Her voice got quieter as she said, "So, have you given any thought about… finding out the cat's name?"

Marinette groaned. "Yeah, I've thought about it. Soon, I think. I'm just trying to get used to the idea."

Alya's tone shifted to concerned and comforting. "Hey, I promise it's going to be okay. I really do think you finding out is going to make things so much easier in ways you haven't even thought of."

"Yeah, I know. I'm still just a bit apprehensive is all." She paused, then whispered, "It still feels like it'd be putting him in danger, and that's hard to shake. It's going to change everything, too. But I know it can't stay like this forever. I'm almost there."

Mr. Dubois strolled in front of his desk and said, "Good afternoon, everyone. It's time to put everything but your tablets away. I trust everyone is prepared for today's exam. You have until the end of class time to complete it. If you finish before your peers, I expect that you can be courteous and remain quiet until everyone is done. Are there any questions?" When no one responded, he looked at his own tablet and tapped it a few times. "Alright, you may begin."

While going through the motions of completing the equations in front of him, Adrien listened to Marinette breathe while he pondered what his life had come to.

Ever since Monday afternoon when that florist almost ended everything for them, Adrien could not help but be hyperfocused on Marinette, even before today's eye-opening revelation. It wasn't like he was ignoring her before, but since then she was like a beacon that demanded his attention. This was problematic because he was _supposed_ to act like absolutely nothing was different. From her perspective her world had been rocked, but that had nothing to do with Adrien Agreste.

Trying to maintain the status quo between them was stifling. It really highlighted to him how completely different his two relationships with this one girl were.

As Chat Noir, Ladybug would lean on him heavily for support, literally or not, because she was certain he would be there lending it. She almost always exuded confidence and expected him to defer to her judgement, and when he didn't she heard him out. They didn't share any personal details, but they did share the most personal moments. They were there for each other. They were a team.

Meanwhile, Marinette (who was lightly tapping her nails on her desk) had always been someone really special to Adrien. Maybe she was a bit clumsy and scatter-brained once in a while, but she was so thoughtful, clever, and just really sweet. It would be fair to say that Adrien went out of his way to be around her because when she was nearby she just had a way of lifting his mood. She was amazing. That fact made him feel both like an idiot and like he should get partial credit for being so fond of her without knowing she was Ladybug.

Adrien rarely spent time with just Marinette. While it did happen occasionally, they didn't really have a relationship specific to them. He had to share her with everybody else. At least, that's what he thought until earlier today.

The other thing that paying attention to Marinette (while trying very hard not to pay attention to Marinette) did was exactly what he was trying to avoid. Marinette was noticing a difference. Sometimes it was more than she could handle. Watching her short circuit and knowing it for what it was had been kind of mesmerizing. Tripping over her words, tripping over her feet, tripping over absolutely nothing was unbelievably her involuntary way of blurting out how much she loved him, and it was a bit of a shock seeing how many times it happened just since this morning. It shot him straight in the heart every single time since he found out, and he just wanted to scoop her up and shout back, "I know! I love you too! Isn't this the best?" But no, he couldn't do that.

Other times though she seemed to be acclimating to the attention and she could talk and laugh with him, letting her casual boldness shine through. When she was comfortable like that he could imagine them being a real couple, and he wanted _more_.

He finished up his test and found that he still had plenty of time. He checked his answers and submitted the exam. Since Ms. Mendeleiev wasn't giving one, he was officially done with all of his major exams. Now he just had to wait for the grades to come out and see if his work paid off. For now, he crossed his arms across his chest, closed his eyes, and leaned back. He heard a sharp intake of breath behind him and then the breathing evened out again. Adrien silently cheered Marinette on while she took her test until he heard her sigh and put her tablet down.

—

They had one class period left in the day, and Mr. D'Argencourt was so done already that he set up an Ultimate Mecha Strike III tournament in a study room in the library just for some semblance of order. The room was small for a classroom but big enough for a couple couches and some cushy chairs. They drew up the game brackets on a chalkboard on the wall so that those who were less experienced played each other for a few rounds so that everyone would get a chance to have fun. Once those were whittled down, in came the more serious competitors in the class. Adrien carefully and steadily won every match he was in. It was a calm, almost meditative endeavor. Between rounds, Adrien watched Marinette play, of course choosing the Ladybug mech every time. He noticed that she seemed conflicted. She would stay just ahead one moment, and then lurch to a massive lead the next, and then pull back until she ended up winning just by trading low impact strikes until her clear lead finally did her opponent in. She was smiling and being her usual friendly self, but at the same time Adrien could tell she was frustrated.

Once Adrien beat Kim and Marinette beat Max, it was down to Adrien and Marinette, to no one's surprise.

The two of them sat on the couch together and each picked the mechs they favored. Adrien snickered as he pulled up the Black Cat mech to oppose her Ladybug. Marinette rolled her eyes and said, "Laugh now while you still can."

Adrien grinned and said, "Don't worry, I'll have a great time."

Once the fight started Adrien had to really concentrate to keep up, but Marinette was still releasing her frustrated little grunts, not when she was hit, but when she hit him. He gave it his all to try to close the gap for her, but her skill level just increased by the same increment. Adrien sighed and said, "You're holding back, Marinette."

She snorted. "What are you talking about? I'm winning."

"I know you are," Adrien had to move fast to lessen her next blow. "But you're drawing it out."

She huffed a laugh. "Well, _some people_ complain if I win too fast."

Alya interjected, "That's because we like to play for more than five seconds at a time!"

Adrien felt good about getting his next shot through her defences. "Maybe, but I've beaten everyone I played today too, so I won't feel bad." At this point, while there has been a lot of give and take on the screen, neither of their health bars had moved very far. Marinette got in a good shot and let out another frustrated grunt.

Adrien sighed as he came back swinging as hard as he could, but in contrast to his actions on the screen he calmly but firmly said, "Marinette? Trounce me."

Marinette broke her concentration as she glanced at him in surprise.

Adrien took that moment to execute a triple kick combo he'd never been able to pull off when playing against her, cutting her remaining health down to a quarter of what it was.

She gasped when she saw her mistake, then her expression changed to a furious determination. She squared her shoulders to the screen, planted her feet on the floor in front of her and proceeded to execute one of the most complicated combos in the game. When he moved to counter she rolled it into her next combo attack like he was doing her a favor and ended the match with the now needlessly powerful electric front flip axe kick. Just like that Adrien had gone from three-quarters health to KO.

The room exploded with cheers and Marinette jumped out of her seat to do a victory dance. Adrien couldn't be happier as he watched Marinette gloat shamelessly over the win. Here was Ladybug, and she was completely ridiculous. Nothing could be better. She glanced down at him in the middle of a shimmy and jolted when they made eye contact. The misstep made her tangle her foot up in the cords for the video game and the screen turned black as she stumbled, flailing her arms as she disconnected everything right before completely collapsing into him. By reflex he caught her as she fell, and when the dust settled he had one Marinette Dupain-Cheng seated in his lap with his arms wrapped protectively around her, while she looked at him with eyes like saucers.

He felt his face heat as he watched her face turn a likely matching shade of red. A beat later his arms sprang off of her, and then he didn't know where to put his hands, while his words started spilling out. "Oh my gosh, is y-your ankle okay? Are you hurt?"

When he stuttered, somehow Marinette looked even more surprised for a moment before giving him a small knowing smile. She then looked at her feet and rotated both of her ankles and said, "I think they seem to be fine. Thank you for catching me, Adrien."

He grinned and said, "My pleasure. I mean, I'm glad I could help."

Alix snorted and said, "Should the rest of us leave?" jolting Marinette into hopping out of Adrien's lap.

She then crouched down to examine where the connectors from the gaming console got jerked out of the TV. "Well, I don't see any damage here at least, but I guess we should probably start cleaning up." The class took her suggestion and rearranged the furniture back to its original layout, as it had all migrated during the tournament. Mr. D'Argencourt came in while they were in the process of tidying and congratulated Marinette on her win. The bell rang, signaling the end of their day.

Alya put on her book sack and while waiting for Marinette to do the same, she said, "Hey girl, that was an amazing win, do we want to maybe go out and celebrate?"

Marinette shouldered her book sack and shook her head. "I really need to be getting home. Maybe tomorrow though?"

"Sure thing. See you tomorrow," Alya replied.

"Awesome, tomorrow then," Marinette said as she headed for the door. On her way she passed by Adrien and Nino. She looked at Adrien and smiled brightly. "Bye, guys," she said, then she was out the door before either could respond.


	10. Chapter 10

Nino was just getting ready for bed when his phone chimed with a text message. He checked his screen and saw it was from Alya.

_Alya: This is driving me up a wall. That girl is going to be the death of me!_

It didn't look like an emergency that couldn't be handled from his room, so he turned out the light, climbed into bed, and plugged in his phone before responding.

_Nino: What's she doing now? Do you want to call me?_

His phone started ringing, and he answered. "Hey, Babe. It's sweet of you to tuck me in. So, what's our spotted savoir doing to drive you up a wall?"

Alya huffed in frustration and said, "She called me to squeal about how she's sure she finally has Adrien's attention. I mean, not that she's wrong, but I think she's gearing up to tell him how she feels, or something and what the Hell is Adrien supposed to do if she still doesn't know he's Chat? I was worried about him breaking her, but at this rate it's going to be the other way around!"

Nino took his glasses off and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Do you think you can slow her down?"

Alya sighed. "I've tried, but anytime I do or say anything involving Adrien that isn't all ahead full, she asks me if I'm feeling okay."

Nino barked a laugh, "Yeah, well you made that bed."

Alya grumbled, "Yeah, I know I did, but I did _not foresee these particular complications!"_

"Yeah, no joke. Have you tried encouraging her to talk to Chat Noir?"

"I have, but I think she's too preoccupied with the Adrien situation. Which is painfully ironic."

Nino hummed in thought. "Really, when you think about it, their situation kinda always has been. It's just finally coming to a head. Maybe in the meantime we can try to run interference? Just try to keep them away from each other?"

"Yeah, Maybe. But you know how determined Marinette gets."

"You mean Ladybug?"

Alya laughed. "Exactly."

—

Adrien was finished with dinner and piano lessons, and all he had left on his agenda for the day was practicing Chinese and "stay in his room and out of trouble." He sat at his desk, book open to his latest hanzi lesson, but was not in the right headspace to practice Chinese. Really, he wasn't in the right headspace to stay in his room and pondered how loosely he should define "trouble."

"Plagg? I need to talk to her. This is getting out of hand. I'm completely failing at keeping her from knowing how I feel."

Plagg floated over and sat on his desk. "Adrien, I can tell you with certainty that there is life on other planets, and I'm pretty sure you're failing at keeping _them _from knowing how you feel."

Adrien's eyes widened in disbelief as he turned to stare at Plagg. "How have I never thought to ask about aliens?"

Plagg closed his eyes and sighed, "I really don't know, but I'm regretting my big mouth and we are not discussing them today."

Adrien's expression grew determined as he closed his Chinese book. "You're right, we're not. We're going to the bakery."

"I don't know if it will help, but good luck. I'm ready to get this over with."

"Thanks, Plagg. Claws out."

Moments later Chat Noir was standing on Marinette's rooftop balcony politely knocking on the trap door to her room.

Marinette opened the hatch wearing the same pajamas he found her in right after the perfume ad aired. She looked up at him with an eyebrow cocked, and said, "I was wondering when you would show up."

"I was trying to give you some space. Can we talk?"

Marinette looked down in her room, rolled her eyes, and said, "Fine, but just for a little bit. I'm kinda in the middle of something."

They climbed down into her room and she went straight to the sewing machine and continued working on a garment. Chat Noir took a moment to look around.

A red kwami flew up to him and in the cheeriest little voice he had ever heard, said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Chat Noir! I'm Tikki."

She was so adorable. Chat Noir almost squealed, but managed not to as he said, "Oh my goodness, Tikki, it is so lovely to finally meet you too! Hah! I can't wait to tell Plagg I know your name."

Tikki looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, he refuses to tell me. He says I don't need to know."

Tikki scoffed and shook her head. "Plagg can be such a drama queen. You're a good person to put up with him," she said with a wink. Tikki looked over to Marinette, who was watching them with a crooked smile on her face. Tikki continued, "I'll go ahead and leave you two alone, since I know you want to talk and she _shouldn't stay up so late." _

As Tikki flitted up to Marinette's bed, Marinette rolled her eyes and said, "The dress isn't going to take that long, I told you that!"

Chat Noir chuckled. "Wow, a kwami with a sense of responsibility. Not a dynamic I'm used to." He looked up and rubbed his chin in thought. "Except maybe lately. Huh. What are you working on, there?"

Marinette ran the fabric through her sewing machine, watching it closely as she said, "Just a dress I started a while back. It's been on my mind, so I picked it back up again earlier this week."

Chat Noir looked at the piece she was working with and the fabric on her desk. "You seem to really like pink and black."

She smiled as she removed the garment from the machine and cut the thread. "Yeah, I can't help it, they just really appeal to me." She started pulling pins from it and sticking them in the pin cushion next to her. "It's funny, I wear them both all the time, but when people try to guess my favorite color, they always say pink, and never say black." She looked up at him, still smiling. "They're both my favorite really."

Chat Noir pulled her desk chair over next to Marinette and the sewing machine and sat in it. "Why is that?"

Marinette shrugged, and said, "I just really like how unabashedly pretty pink is. It's just such a friendly and cheerful color. But I also really enjoy how elegant and mysterious black is, and honestly, everything just looks good in black."

Chat Noir winked at her and said, "I completely agree and feel the same way."

Marinette smirked and said, "Why?" She looked down at his suit and back up to his face. "Because you're elegant, mysterious, and look good in that?" she said with sarcasm.

He grinned widely and said, "No, because I'm friendly and cheerful." He turned his head to show her his profile and posed dramatically, then cut his eyes to her, "And, yeah, unabashedly pretty." Chat Noir was delighted that this pulled a laugh from her as she shoved his shoulder. He took her good mood as an opportunity. He caught one of her hands in his and just held it. He looked at her hopefully and said, "Please let me tell you who I am, my Lady?"

She looked at him seriously for a long moment. Then her expression turned sad. "I thought I'd be ready sooner, but every time I see your face, I get that feeling all over again like finding out would be intentionally putting you in danger. I care about you so much Chat, and it's just really hard to do. I know with Nino and Alya knowing, keeping it from me is not really sustainable in the long term, so I'm really trying to be ready. I just don't ever want to see you get hurt in a way I can't fix."

Chat nodded as he held her hand protectively in both of his and said, "Hey, it's okay. We do need to do this soon, but it doesn't have to be right now." He shrugged and attempted nonchalance. "I'll just try to hold out a little longer."

Marinette was looking at him dubiously, so he looked around for a new subject and found the pictures of himself he had seen there before. He cleared his throat and said, "So, Adrien's the boy, huh?"

Marinette blanched and pulled her hand to her chest, "Oh, uh, yeah. I guess there's no hiding that now."

Chat Noir chuckled, 'Don't worry, I actually found out this morning. Way to set the bar, by the way. I didn't realize I was competing with a model."

Her eyebrows drew down as she looked at him, "How did you find out? And you know better than that. That angelic face is just a bonus. A nice one, but still just packaging."

Chat blushed and said, "Yeah I know, but you know I gotta tease. I can't tell you how I found out though," he shook his head. "It'd give me away. Ask again when you know who I am."

Marinette tilted her head, then nodded. "I guess that's fair." Her expression turned stern. "You'd better leave him alone, Kitty. I feel like maybe I'm finally getting somewhere," her expression turned wistful as she looked at the pictures. "Like maybe I finally have his attention."

Chat's heart ached for her. He hated that he had ever made her feel unsure of herself. He didn't know better at the time, but that knowledge didn't really help. He shook his head and said, "I don't know, Bugaboo. I may have to punish him a little bit for taking so long." Marinette scoffed at him as he continued, "Seriously though, I hope he makes you very happy." He took a deep breath as he realized he was in over his head. He had to do something to try to stop from hurting her until the truth was out, even if he wasn't sure he could manage. Chat said, "Marinette? I need to ask you to do me a favor. Please don't get into a relationship with someone until you know who I am."

Marinette looked at him quizzically, and said with some concern, "I'm not going to suddenly change my mind about Adrien when I know, Chat."

He shook his head, "I know, and I don't want you to. Just, please?"

Marinette turned and looked at her dress for a moment. Suddenly Chat wondered what the finished product was going to look like. Marinette turned back to him, "Okay, it won't be for long anyway. How about no dates until that point? Is that good enough?"

"Can we add no physical affection beyond what's appropriate for just friends? I know this is weird, but just trust me, it's really for the best this way. Turn his head all you want, just, please hold off on the rest until you're ready to see my face."

Marinette's expression shifted several times while she thought about it. Annoyed, confused, sad, maybe some hurt, but when she looked at him, she looked resigned. "Okay, Chat. If it's that important to you, I'll wait." She squinted at him, and smirked. "You just want me to have a reason to hurry up, don't you?"

Chat Noir laughed. "While I do, and this could prove to be a great incentive, it really is more than that." He stood up and readied himself to go. "Besides, hugs are totally fair game." He opened his arms wide. "Friends hug, right?"

She rolled her eyes and got up from her chair. "Of course they do." She walked up to him and wrapped him in a tight hug, burying her face under his chin. He held her tightly for a moment, and reminded himself that things were going to get simpler. He just needed to be patient.

He gave her an extra tight squeeze and they let go. He backed away and gave her a two finger salute. "See you soon!" he said, and clamored up through her skylight.

—-

Nino and Adrien were chatting in Ms. Bustier's class, roll had already been called, and Ms. Bustier was giving them free reign as long as they stayed quiet and didn't throw anything. Marinette and Alya still hadn't shown up, and Adrien looked oddly more relaxed than he had for most of the week.

Adrien's eyebrows lifted as he said, "Do you think they took the day off?"

Nino shrugged. "I guess it's possible, though, I'd be kind of surprised."

Adrien nodded. "How did I get in this mess? Maybe the next battle I should just 'accidentally' let my transformation drop."

Nino looked around. Nobody was paying attention to them. "Adrien, maybe not in here?"

Adrien's eyes widened and his hand clapped over his mouth, then he said, "Oh crap. I'm never that careless." He ran his hand through his hair. "You see what this is doing to me?"

Nino nodded in sympathy. "I hope she relents soon." He glanced at his phone and saw that he missed a text from Alya.

_Alya: I tried to stop her, but she's on her way!_

Nino felt his heart stop when he saw that under the message was a picture of Marinette looking irritated with the photographer, but instead of her usual ensemble, she was wearing a dress. The top half was pink, sleeveless, with a turned down collar, and the fabric wrapped across the front from either side and presumably tied together in the back. Out from under the wrap-around top came a knee-length flowing black skirt, with a cluster of Marinette's signature pink cherry blossoms near the hem on the right side. Her hair was pulled back in a black clip, but otherwise down. Nino muttered in silent horror, "Oh no, she's cute."

Adrien raised an eyebrow, "What?"

Nino quickly moved his phone to be sure Adrien couldn't see it, then glanced back at it to see when it was sent, because he realized in a panic he hadn't heard it chime, he just happened to notice the message. Which was sent ten minutes ago. _Shit._ Nino grabbed Adrien's arm and stood up, leading Adrien to Ms. Bustier's desk, and practically shouted, "Ms. Bustier! Hey, I was wondering, since we're not really doing much of anything in here today, maybe Adrien and I could go and help out in the library!"

Ms. Bustier's eyes brightened up and she looked like she was about to respond, when a familiar voice came through the open door from just down the hall. "I swear, Alya it's a good thing Maman and I wear the same size, but you still owe me a pair of shoes!" Marinette rounded the corner like an unabashedly pretty and elegant thunderhead.

Adrien saw her and his hand leaped to his chest like he had been kicked in the solar plexus. When she saw Adrien standing directly in her path her mouth popped open in surprise and she misstepped, pitching herself forward. Adrien practically dove to catch her by her upper arms and help regain her balance.

Once she was upright, she found Adrien was looking at her intently before he carefully moved his hands off her arms. When she said sweetly, but unsurely, "Thank you, Adrien," he closed his eyes. His hands balled into fists and his breath quickened before he frantically grabbed her again and with pleading eyes shouted, "I can't _do_ this anymore, Marinette!"

The whole classroom which had up to that point been filled with chatter, fell dead silent, while Marinette's face screwed up in confusion. She whispered, "W-what do you mean, Adrien?" before her face crumpled and a tear fell down her cheek.

With a look of panic Adrien shouted, "No!" Then quietly, "Nononononono, I'm so sorry my- Marinette." She gasped when he kissed her softly on the forehead, and then gently scooped her up bridal style, and carried a thoroughly confused-looking Marinette right out of the classroom.

Nino stared at the space the pair had just been occupying, while he said to Alya, "So, what happened to her shoes?"

Alya was also staring at the same space. "I panicked and threw them out the window when she wasn't looking. Why did you serve him up on a platter like that?"

"I got the text late and also panicked," he replied without moving.

"Hm."

—

Adrien knew he had screwed up. As he carried Marinette as quickly as he could, she said, "I don't understand, Adrien. Did I do something wrong?"

He brought her to the nearest empty room, which turned out to be the art room, and pushed the door open with his back while he said, "No, Marinette. You could never do anything wrong." He sat her on one of the tables, and quickly went back to the door to lock it.

She looked at the floor to her left and whispered, "I just thought," she tucked her hair behind her ear and wrapped her hands around her knees, "I thought that maybe," she cleared her throat, "um, you were starting to like me."

When her chest caved slightly as her shoulders started pulling up every fiber in his being screamed at him to make her pain stop, so he blurted, "And you were right!"

She snapped her head towards him in surprise.

He threw his hands up in a placating motion. "And that's why I can't do this anymore, because _I'm _Chat Noir, and I've been trying to honor your wishes and keep that from you," he knelt on the bench in front of her, "but I can't manage to hide from you that I'm completely crazy about you!"

Marinette stared at him with big blue eyes that were larger than life. Then she bit her lip and those eyes narrowed slightly and started frantically searching his face. She whispered, "That's not possible..." She carefully grabbed his face and turned it to the side so she was looking at his profile.

He cut his eyes to her, like he did in her bedroom the night before, and said softly, "Hello, my Lady."

She gasped as she let go and pinned her eyes to the middle of his chest. He turned his head to face her again, and she looked up at his eyes for a moment, but her gaze slid right back down. "It really is you. Of all the civilians you could have been, of course you're Adrien Agreste!" She pulled a hand through her hair and muttered, "I'm such an idiot!"

Adrien watched her berate herself and was beginning to feel more than a little hurt. He stood up from the bench and put his hands in his pockets. "I didn't do it on purpose. It's not like Chat Noir _chose _to be Adrien Agreste out of a list of available options."

Her eyes bounced up to his in surprise, "Oh Kitty, I didn't mean it like that!" She glanced away again, "Oh shoot. This is hard." She locked eyes with him. "I'm really very glad it's you," she looked at her hands, "It's just really a lot to take in… Oh my goodness you found out you were the boy yesterday!" She squeezed her eyes shut and said, "I don't even want to know how right now, but I am so going to find out later."

Hearing that she was glad, and then reconfirming her feelings made him feel better, but there was still something bothering him about her behavior. "Marinette, you seem to be having a really hard time looking at me."

She glanced at him, and then away again. "Yeah, it's the um. It's the…" She drew a circle in the air with her finger vaguely around the top half of her own face.

Suddenly he remembered, "Oh! It's the bridge of my nose! It's weird that I'm flaunting it so openly, isn't it?" He turned his head side to side, to show off his nose, "It's practically obscene."

Marinette laughed despite herself, "It so is. Shut up!" She shook her head and said, "This is so embarrassing. The three of you had known for days and all because of me you had to pretend not to be him." She looked up at him again, "Adrien, I'm so sorry I put you through that."

He chuckled. "Hey, there's no way you could have known. Thank you for caring about me. Chat," he shrugged, "Well, really Adrien too, but we haven't exactly had a chance to fully explore that facet." He looked at her hopefully.

Marinette chuckled nervously, "Oh no no no, Tomcat. I'm going to need just a little bit of time to absorb this information."

Adrien deflated. "More time?"

Marinette cocked an eyebrow and said, "Now hold on, mister, I just found all this out and you've had several days."

He folded his arms across his chest and cocked his own eyebrow. "Maybe so, but I was pretty much used to the idea by the end of that fight."

Marinette folded her own arms across her chest and said, "You were not! And besides, you've known the whole time you've been pining after Ladybug that she was also another person. Where the whole time I've been daydreaming about 'Adrien,' in my mind he was only ever 'Adrien.' I wasn't preparing myself to learn about the person on the other side of the mask because as far as I knew 'Adrien' wasn't _wearing_ a mask!"

Adrien rubbed his chin. "Oh… Okay yeah, that is weird. Huh."

Marinette got down from the table and wrapped him in a hug, and said, "All I ask is for one day. I promise tomorrow, I'll be ready to 'explore that facet.' I'll be ready to look at your face and everything."

Adrien wrapped her up in his arms again, more hopeful this time than last. "So, how long exactly have you been daydreaming?"

Marinette snorted and buried her face in his chest. In a muffled voice she said, "About as long as you've been pining."

Adrien flushed as his face split in a huge grin. He buried his nose in Marinette's hair as he said, "That long, huh? You know you did a spectacular job with that dress by the way. The design and execution are so good that it literally broke me. You created an actual cuteness torture device."

Marinette giggled and looked up at him and said excitedly, "Really?"

He grinned down at her and said, "Absolutely. You're so talented, my Lady."

She buried her face back in his chest as she laughed, "You're doing it again! It's too surreal!"

Adrien laughed. Marinette said, "You know, we should probably get back to class, before they call a search party. Or before there's an akuma." She startled and suddenly pulled back and looked at him a moment with a shocked expression and said, "We can get in touch with each other when there's an akuma! Oh my goodness, we can organize _so much!_"

Adrien smiled and said, "There's my favorite strategist. Let's head back to class."


	11. Chapter 11

Adrien and Marinette were gone for several minutes. Ms. Bustier seemed unperturbed by their sudden departure. Eventually Chloe scoffed and said, "Ms. Bustier! Where did those two go off to? Shouldn't they be in the classroom and supervised?"

Ms. Bustier smiled and said, "Don't worry about them, Chloe. If they need to excuse themselves to have a private conversation, a day when you have free class time is the perfect time to do it. I'm sure they will be back shortly, they always are eventually."

Alya slowly turned her head to face Nino with her eyebrows pulled down in a questioning expression. _Does Ms. Bustier know? _Nino frowned back at her and shrugged.

Finally the classroom door opened with Adrien allowing Marinette through first and her smiling sheepishly back at him as she did. When they left earlier, it was in a panic, and the tension that surrounded them was enough that Nino could feel it between his shoulder blades. When they walked back through the door they brought with them an air of giddy anticipation.

Marinette tried to suppress her grin as she passed the teacher's desk and said, "Sorry Ms. Bustier."

Adrien repeated with barely muted glee, "Sorry Ms. Bustier," then they continued to their desks.

As they seated themselves, Ms. Bustier said, "That's alright, but I do hope that's your last dramatic exit for the day?"

"Yes, Ms. Bustier," the two said together.

Nino had a pretty good idea what the conversation was about, but he was anxious to know enough of the details to know for certain that the identity crisis was over, and admittedly he was curious to know if his mutually pining friends finally got their act together. When he looked back at Marinette and Alya, it became apparent that he was far from alone in his curiosity. Rose, Juleka, Mylene, and even Alix were already hovering around Marinette in the very brief moment since she sat down.

Rose cleared her throat and said, "Hey, Marinette? Is um, is everything okay? We were so worried that something bad had happened when the two of you rushed out of here like that." Her big blue eyes shined with anticipation.

Marinette shifted in her seat and looked at Adrien, who was watching the whole thing, and then back at Rose while she tried to formulate an answer. "Well, I uh," she folded her arms over her chest, "Yes, everything is fine. There was a little bit of a misunderstanding between us but we managed to clear it all up. And now it's fine," she smiled a little too brightly to be natural, and said, "Right, Adrien?"

Adrien folded his arms on the back of his chair and easily rested his chin on them. He watched her while he said with a soft smile, "Yep. All cleared up now."

Rose beamed and said, "Oh, that's so good to hear!" When she looked between Adrien and Marinette, Rose had a look about her like a kid hoping for dessert. She looked to Marinette again and said, "So, was it an interesting conversation?"

Alix in all her tactful glory shouted from the back of the crowd, "Did you ask him out?"

Before Marinette had a chance to even recover from hearing the question, Adrien's head popped up as he happily said, "Oh no, I asked her out! She said she'd need to think about it, which I get, because it was kind of out of the blue."

There was a loud bang when Alya's hand hit the desk as she shouted at Marinette, "What?!"

Adrien held his hand out and said to Alya, "No it's fine, I may have come on a little strong." He looked back at Marinette, smiled, and said, "She can take her time."

When subjected to Adrien's adoring expression directly, Marinette blushed furiously and said, "Th-thank you," then turned to Alya, looking a little maniacal and said, "S-See? He's fine. It's fine."

Ms. Bustier clapped her hands and said, "Alright girls, can we please give Marinette some space?" prompting her eager classmates to wander back to their desks.

When the class finally went back to their previous chatter, Marinette breathed a sigh of relief and leaned towards Alya and Nino, glanced at Adrien, who was still watching her, then back to Alya and said, "I know the cat's name. I'm so sorry I put you two through that. You guys are the best."

Alya patted Marinette's arm and said, "Of course we are, and it's going to be a _long _time before you live this down, and why did you turn down this beautiful boy who is crazy about you?"

Nino chuckled and shook his head at Alya while he watched Marinette turn maroon as she looked back at Adrien for a moment. Adrien didn't even have the decency to properly blush as he continued to happily watch her. Nino realized that he had seen countless pictures on the Ladyblog where Chat Noir was giving Ladybug that same incorrigibly smitten look. Now that Marinette knew the whole truth, Nino supposed Adrien didn't see a reason to hide it anymore.

"Because, Alya," Marinette said with no small amount of irritation, "I'm still adjusting to the idea of him being _both of them._ I did _just_ find out, after all, and it is a bit of a shock."

Without looking away from Marinette, Adrien said, "It's fine, Alya. She and I have been waiting for this day for a long time. She can take her time."

Marinette looked a little surprised as she turned back to Adrien. She smiled and shook her head, exasperated, and whispered fondly, "Oh, Kitty."

Nino's heart melted as he watched his friends share an honestly touching moment. He realized that this was the first time Ladybug and Chat Noir had ever knowingly interacted without their masks, and he had the honor of being there for it. Slowly, the feeling was overcome with alarm when he heard a faint steady rumble and realized the sound was shifting with each of Adrien's breaths. Nino wasn't certain, but he thought he might even be feeling it through the bench. Adrien's starry eyed contentment ended abruptly as he grabbed his chest and shouted, "Ouch!" then scowled while rubbing his apparent injury.

Ms. Bustier looked up from her book and asked, "Is something wrong, Adrien?"

Looking a little uneasy, Adrien said, "No, I just stabbed myself with a pen, sorry."

She peered at him a moment, but nodded and went back to reading.

Marinette and Alya looked at Adrien with the same alarm Nino felt, and this time Adrien did blush. Marinette regarded Adrien with wide eyes as she said quietly, "You know, I think we should probably save any further discussion on this for later."

Nino stared at Adrien and said, "Dude, did you just p-"

"I said _later_, Nino." Marinette interrupted.

Her tone brooked no argument and Nino felt the full weight of being chastised by Ladybug, and of course she was right. He nodded his head and said, "Right, my bad. Sorry."

—

For the rest of the morning, they did not discuss identities, but that did not stop Adrien from being at Marinette's side whenever possible, insisting on carrying Marinette's backpack and sliding compliments for her into their conversations at any opportunity. Adrien was completely smitten and finally didn't have to hide it, so he wanted the whole world to know what he thought of Marinette. Besides, the sooner Marinette got used to the idea that Adrien and Chat Noir were the same person, the better. Marinette's response to the attention cycled through fluster, chagrined resignation, and blushy smiles she kept trying and failing to hide.

Most of the class thought this turn of events was endlessly amusing. Several people cheered him on and wished him luck throughout the day. Chloe was notably quiet about the whole thing. She managed to get his attention just enough to make eye contact with him with her eyebrows raised high, glanced at Marinette and back to him, then cocked her head questioningly. He smiled broadly at her and shrugged. She scoffed and rolled her eyes, and spent the rest of the day ignoring them both. He knew that essentially amounted to getting his old friend's blessing, if begrudgingly.

Alya was no help to Marinette and celebrated every moment like Marinette's plight was a gift just for her. Conversely, Nino seemed concerned about how Marinette felt about Adrien's behavior.

At the end of their last class before lunch, Adrien slung his own bag over his shoulder, then took the step up to stand by Marinette and then also shouldered her bag for her. He reached out his hand to help Marinette stand from her seat while he grinned down at her. She looked at him a moment, but her eyes darted away as she blushed. Still, she put her hand in his and said, "You know, I can manage to stand on my own."

Adrien's smile widened as she stood and he said, "Oh I know, I'm just looking for excuses." Then he rubbed his thumb across her knuckles.

Marinette's face turned crimson while a nervous laugh exploded from her and she slipped her hand from his then smacked him in the arm. "Agh! You- gah!" she said while she pushed past him to get out the door with Alya.

Once they were in the hall and walking together, Nino said, "Adrien, maybe you should cut Marinette a little slack, maybe give her some breathing room?"

Adrien had been having a lot of fun being just as overt with his affection for Marinette as he was when he was Chat Noir. Though now he felt a little stab of fear, worried that maybe he had been going too far. He looked at Marinette and asked quietly, "Would you like me to dial it back?"

Marinette looked over at Adrien and her cheeks pinked yet again, but she said, "Nino, I appreciate the concern, but really, it's okay. He's acting no more over the top than he does when he's um, _dressed up_, and that's always been fine. I just need to get used to the idea that he is also _him_. Besides," she looked at Adrien, though it made her cheeks even darker, and said calmly, "if I asked him to stop he would. Immediately."

Adrien grinned. "Of course I would." He then winked at her and said, "Please don't?"

Marinette looked down while she cleared her throat. She fiddled with her fingers as she said, "I don't plan on it." She looked at him again with a small, encouraging smile.

Any remnants of Adrien's fears dissolved, and he said, "Well, in that case," he said while looping Marinette's arm into his own, "allow me to escort you to.. Uh, where are we going?"

Marinette hummed and said, "I was thinking it would be a good idea to eat off campus, maybe at my house, just to get away from our classmates so we can talk a little more freely? My parents will both be busy down in the bakery, so they shouldn't be a problem."

Adrien grinned down at her and said, "Brilliant as ever, My- uh, Marinette!"

Alya chuckled and said, "Case in point."

The four of them headed to Tom and Sabine's. When they walked in, the door chimed and Sabine looked up to see them. Her face brightened, "Oh, Marinette! I didn't expect to see you!"

Marinette trotted over to her mother and gave her a hug. "Hello Maman, I was hoping my friends and I could have lunch upstairs?"

Sabine looked over Marinette's shoulder at the rest of them. "Hello Alya and Nino!" When Sabine's eyes landed on Adrien he thought he saw a glint there, as she widened her smile and said, "And _Adrien_, it's good to see all of you." She handed Marinette a baguette and said, "Here, have this for sandwiches if you'd like, there's plenty to find in the fridge."

Marinette kissed her mother on the cheek and said, "Thanks Maman!" Then turned to the three of them and said, "Alright, let's go!"

The four teens poured into the Dupain-Cheng home and Marinette went to the refrigerator to pull out several meats, cheeses, and other sandwich makings. She covered the counter with a full spread. Meanwhile, Alya divvied up the large baguette, and they all got to work assembling their sandwiches.

Adrien was just eyeing the cheeses on Plagg's behalf when Marinette said, "Oh! Tikki, it's safe now." Tikki flew out of Marinette's purse and Marinette turned to everyone and said, "Alya, Nino, Adrien, this is my kwami, Tikki. Tikki, these are my friends."

Tikki flitted around and said, "Hello everyone, it's a pleasure to meet you." Adrien knew that Alya and Nino were no strangers to kwamis, and had even seen Tikki once before, but they still both looked slightly flummoxed as they greeted her.

Adrien grinned and said, "Actually, Tikki and I met last night."

Marinette's eyebrows raised in surprise as she said, "Oh yeah. My God, that _was_ you." She rubbed a hand down her face, then startled again, "Oh! Plagg! Does he want out too?" She went over to the cheeses. "Hmm, no camembert, but I've got brie. It'll have to do."

Adrien's jaw dropped while Plagg flew out of his shirt and over to Marinette. Plagg hovered over her shoulder and said, "Brie is fine."

Adrien picked his jaw up from the floor, then said, "How come you know his name _and what he eats?"_

Marinette said, "We've actually met a few times," she grabbed her plate and brought it to the table, "and I know what all the kwamis eat."

Nino and Alya brought their plates to the table too, and started eating while they watched the conversation.

Adrien stood in the kitchen with his arms out and said, "Where? How?"

Marinette hummed while she chewed a bite, swallowed, and said, "That's partner talk, not team talk. Come eat."

Adrien shook his head, picked up his plate, and sat in the empty seat by Marinette. While he chewed a bite of his sandwich he looked around her home and really took in how comfortable it was. He watched the two kwamis sitting on the counter chatting with each other over their own lunch. Tikki had brought some cookies over and sat by Plagg and his cheese. Before he knew it, his mind was wandering into dangerously pleasant territory. What if he and Marinette ever had a place together, where their kwamis could just hang out openly, and it would be cozy like this place? A place with no secrets. A home. But he knew he was getting far ahead of himself and that possible future was a long way off. Right now they weren't even dating yet.

He looked to Marinette's hand that was closest to him and saw that it was free. He took it and lightly held it in his own, running his thumb back and forth across the back of her hand.

Her cheeks pinked only slightly, as she scoffed and then slipped her hand away. She placed her palm on his cheek, then turned his face away.

He laughed. _Good, she's getting comfortable. _Adrien said as casually as he could, "Are you sure it's even partner talk? It never has been before," and took another bite of his sandwich.

Marinette nodded and said, "I am. With all that's happened, and you having been to, um, yeah but that's more partner talk." She groaned, "I can't believe I was the _last_ to know it was you!" as if just remembering that morning again.

Alya laughed, "That is all on you, girl!"

Adrien raised an eyebrow and said, "You could have been the first at any time you know. That door was always open."

Nino leaned back in his chair and said, "So, back to team talk- which sounds really cool- now what?"

Marinette sat up a little straighter and said, "Well, now when there's an akuma things should be easier to coordinate. We'll need to continue to be very careful about identities but if Chat… _Adrien, _and I need backup, contacting you will be simpler since we're not protecting our own identities from you or yours from him. I'm hoping we can get your Miraculous to you faster this way. I mean, I still think we would be safer if things weren't out in the open like this, but since there's no going back, we'll take advantage of it."

Alya leaned forward on her elbows and said, "So where are the Miraculous? Are they here? Should we just rendezvous at the bakery?"

Marinette shook her head and glanced at Adrien before saying to Alya, "That's going to have to stay a secret, I'm afraid."

Nino folded his arms and said, "Not suggesting anything, just trying to think of all the angles. What about Queen Bee? "

Marinette exhaled and looked at Adrien as she said, "I really think she should not be given any more info than she already has, but you know her best. What are your thoughts?"

It warmed Adrien's heart that she was asking for his input on this matter, especially considering Marinette's history with Chloe. He considered a moment and said, "Yeah, no. Chloe is still my friend, and she's been trying to improve, but I think keeping her out of the loop is for the best at this point."

Marinette visibly relaxed.

The four of them were startled when Tom burst through the door and shouted, "I brought dessert!"

Adrien's head snapped to where the kwamis were eating, but they were both already gone. Tom set down a cake piled high with fruit in the middle of the table along with a knife to cut it and said, "It's not very often Marinette has so many friends over at once, so I thought I'd bring up her favorite." He leaned against the counter and said, "So, what brings all of you here together today?"

Marinette smiled at her father and said, "Oh, you know, we're just celebrating finishing up midterms!"

Tom nodded, "Good, good. Do you all feel like you did well?"

The four of them were quick to nod and assure him of their good grades.

Tom smiled and said, "Wonderful! Just so you know," he looked at Adrien and smiled a little wider, "You're all welcome back anytime."

Adrien could almost picture that grin being a little more wolfish in nature. He gulped and said, "Thank you, Mr. Dupain!"

Tom winked and said, "Of course, my boy!' He headed for the door and patted Adrien's shoulder on the way by as he said, "I'll leave you four alone now, enjoy the rest of your day!"

"Thanks, Papa!" Marinette called after him as he left and closed the door behind him.

Adrien let out a long breath as Nino said, "That was a close one."

Tikki floated over to sit on the table, eyeing the cake expectantly, followed closely by Plagg.

Alya helped herself to a slice of cake and said, "Maybe so, but now we have dessert! Your dad is so nice, Marinette!"

Adrien chuckled nervously and said, "Yeah, and he sure loves his daughter."

Marinette stopped in the middle of serving herself, and looked at him with wide eyes before she buried her face in her hands and said, "That day was full of panic and bad decisions, and can we please not talk about it today?"

Adrien rubbed a circle on her back and said, "Yeah, we can skip it for now. As long as you can tell me with relative certainty that your dad isn't going to rip my arms off."

She lifted her head from her hands, smirked at him, and said, "Just don't give him a reason to."

Adrien did not appreciate the burst of laughter that came from Nino, Alya, and Plagg.

Once the six of them finished off their sandwiches and cake the kwamis ducked into their usual hiding spots and they all headed back to class. Lunch seemed to be good for Marinette. Adrien kept up the shameless flirting, but Marinette was taking it more and more in stride. It seemed as though taking that moment to regroup and discuss things as partners in private helped her relax into the situation.

At the end of the day Adrien called his bodyguard to ask to be picked up from the bakery, and then walked her home. He offered her his arm again, and she shook her head at him, but accepted it, and said, "I still can't believe you're _Adrien._"

Adrien grinned and said, "Well, at least now you can believe I'm Chat."

She giggled and said, "True."

Adrien cleared his throat and said, "I um, I hope you don't mind my asking, and you don't have to answer, but why did you choose a guy who made you too nervous to talk to over, well, someone you're close to?"

Marinette looked up at him and looked a little sad. She said, "First of all, Kitty, 'choose' is a strong word. I wasn't really given a choice. My heart chose without asking my opinion or permission, and it can be really stubborn."

Adrien chuckled and said, "That much I know."

Marinette elbowed him lightly and continued, "Besides, before I fell- before my heart chose Adrien, he didn't make me nervous at all, he made me angry. It was a long time ago, you may not remember."

Adrien nodded and said, "The gum on your seat."

Marinette sighed and said, "Yeah, the gum on my seat." She shook her head and continued, "I'm sorry I didn't hear you out sooner."

Adrien shrugged and said, "We sorted that out."

Marinette nodded and said, "We did, and when I did finally hear you out you were so sweet and kind to someone who frankly didn't deserve it, my heart screamed, 'That one!' and that was the last coherent thing it has said in your presence." Marinette rested her head on his arm as they walked and said, "I still have the umbrella."

Adrien chuckled and shook his head.

Marinette looked up at him and said, "What?"

Adrien smiled at her and said, "I tried not to, but there were times that I really hated me. I didn't know it was me, but man that guy whoever he was had to be the luckiest guy in the world. I'm such an idiot."

Marinette laughed and said, "Well, I'm no better, but at least we can be idiots together."

Adrien raised an eyebrow at her and said, "Can we?"

Marinette grinned and said, "Ask again tomorrow. I want to make sure things still make sense next time I wake up, after all."

He kissed the top of her head and said, "I did say I'd give you 'til then."

They approached the bakery door, and Marinette smiled serenely up at him, then startled and said, "Oh! Don't forget, since our class is done with midterms, we're going to be picnicking in the park for brunch!"

Adrien said solemnly, "I wouldn't miss it for the world." He winked. "I managed to keep from Father and Nathalie that our class has the day off, so they don't know they can keep me home."

Marinette laughed and shook her head, then they both noticed his car drive up. She said, "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

Adrien opened his arms for a hug, and Marinette immediately dove into the open space. He wrapped his arms around her and soaked the feeling in. After a moment, they parted ways and he watched her go inside before he climbed into the car and was driven home.


	12. Chapter 12

The next morning, Adrien trotted up to where most of the rest of his classmates were gathered, several of whom were bustling around making sure all the preparations were there. In the middle of it all was Marinette, Class Representative, with a clipboard directing traffic. "Nathaniel, let's see, you brought the plates forks, cups and napkins? Get them to that table over there. Awesome! Mylene! The juices should be on this table, thanks!" She checked a few items off, then looked up from the clipboard and said, "Alright guys, I hope everyone's hungry. Ms. Cesaire really outdid herself, and I'm going to be paying back Maman and Papa in chores for a week for everything they brought." She turned and saw Adrien and her eyes lit up. "Adrien! For a moment I was worried you couldn't make it. I expected to see you earlier."

Adrien chuckled and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Yeah well, I got a little caught up with something else this morning, but I'm here now." He pulled out his phone and checked the time. _Just a few more minutes._ "Everything looks great! Is it ready?"

Marinette looked around, and said, "Yeah. Everybody, you can start filling your plates! Thanks for all the help guys!"

In a short while the class was comfortably sitting on several blankets eating a delicious meal and enjoying each other's company. Adrien checked his phone again, and couldn't be happier with the timing. He half shouted across their blanket at Alya, "Hey Alya, there was some commotion going on at the Eiffel Tower this morning, it looked like it might be of interest to The Ladyblog."

Just like he had hoped, that got everyone's attention while Marinette and Alya traded puzzled looks. Adrien strolled right up next to Marinette while Alya took out her phone and in no time said, 'Oh, hey there was a newscast recorded this morning! What is… Oh." Alya and Marinette both looked up at Adrien with wide eyes and looked right back at the phone. In moments the whole class was either looking at their phone or over someone's shoulder to share a screen where Nadja Chamack and Chat Noir were holding a nice conversation on the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower.

—**-**

"This is Nadja Chamack on the Eiffel Tower with an exclusive interview with none other than Paris's feline hero, Chat Noir. But this is no ordinary interview. Chat Noir, am I to understand that you are on a mission of sorts?"

"Yes, Nadja, thank you. It likely comes as no surprise that I'm a sucker for a good love story. So I'm here on behalf of Adrien Agreste to beg one Marinette Dupain-Cheng to please take pity on the poor sap and have dinner with him."

"If we may, can we show the audience the banner you've hung for the occasion?"

'Oh yes, please do!"

The image on the screen switched from Chat Noir and Nadja Chamack to a view of the Eiffel Tower from Champ de Mars. Hanging from the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower was a giant banner undulating in the breeze that said:

**Marinette, please go out with Adrien. Thanks, Chat Noir**

Nadja's voice continued while the banner was shown. "So it looks like you've put quite a bit of effort into this relatively small crusade of yours."

The image went back to showing Nadja and Chat Noir, who was quickly taking a sip from a water bottle.

"So do I understand correctly that you are doing this for _the _Adrien Agreste, famed teen model and the face of the Gabriel fashion empire?"

"Yes, the very same."

"Is this something he asked you to do for him?"

"Oh, no. I just found him moping in the park yesterday evening, and he just looked so pitiful I had to stop and talk to the guy. He was all disheveled, with bags under his eyes, and his trademark perfect hair was unkempt, and he told me about Marinette and how amazing she is. He said she's so talented and funny, and kind, and super clever, and oh! Completely adorable. Stunning, really, and honestly he's intimidated, which makes it even worse, because I kinda got the impression from the way he was talking, that's totally his type. Adrien really likes a girl who can intimidate him." Chat winked at the camera. "But yeah, I wanted to help the guy out, and I knew that being, as you say, the face of a giant fashion empire, there was no way his image could afford some over the top grand romantic gesture. I figured I'd do it for him since he's a really great guy, and it's right up my alley."

"So you heard what Adrien said about her, do you have any first hand knowledge of what this Marinette is like?"

"Funnily enough, I actually do. We've met during several akuma attacks, I think largely because for a time there the school she attends was frequently targeted, so I got pretty familiar with several people there. But yeah, everything he says is absolutely true, Marinette is amazing. If it weren't for my Lady, I'd probably be tempted to try to snatch her up for myself," he chuckled. "But no really, it would absolutely make my day if she would put the poor guy out of his misery and agree to give him a chance. I really think they would make a fantastic couple."

"So you're here, should we be expecting Ladybug to also support this effort?"

Chat chuckled again, "Oh no. This has nothing to do with Ladybug. This is just my own personal project. Though if she did decide to join me and lend her support, it could be fun."

"Well, you heard it here folks, one superhero has made it his mission to help one supermodel get a date. And I bet you thought the pigeon guy was strange. This is Nadja Chamack, signing off."

—-

At the end of the broadcast the park was completely silent, and all of the heads lifted to look at him and Marinette.

Marinette looked at him, mouth agape, and after a moment said, "Adrien, what did you do?"

Kim said, "Now Marinette, Chat Noir said himself, Adrien didn't do anything."

Adrien shrugged as he put his hand on the back of his neck and he looked at her feet. He then carefully looked up just enough that he could see her through his eyelashes, and whispered, "Are you mad?"

Marinette giggled, stifled it behind a grin she couldn't wipe off, and whispered, "I'm trying to be."

He carefully reached out with his free hand and grabbed hers, then said, "Please don't be?" He leaned in closer as he lifted her hand and said, "Go out with me instead?" and lightly placed a kiss on the back of her delicate knuckles.

Marinette blushed, but leaned in the few inches it took to kiss him on the cheek, taking him by surprise. Her eyelashes tickled him as they barely grazed the space right under where the edge of his eye crinkles. Then she said, "Okay, fine," as she smirked at him. "But only because I would hate to disappoint Chat Noir after he went through all that trouble."

Adrien stood up straight and blushed when he realised his hand was on the cheek where he felt her lips. He giggled, then cleared his throat, and said, "Great! Awesome! I uh, I need to go and um. Do a thing. I have a thing I need to do."

Marinette cocked her head at him, and said, "But Adrien, you just got here!" She folded her arms across her chest and sighed, "Surely you don't have to go already."

Adrien tripped as he backed away from her, and then stood back up and said, "I know, I just… I really need to go thank Chat Noir. Right now!" His face reddened further as he turned and walked quickly out of the park. Once he was out of line of sight, his phone chimed. He looked at it, and found a text.

_Nino: You're an idiot._

He quickly typed out a response as he found a nearby spot to transform.

_Adrien: Shut up._

By the time he was in his cat suit he could hear Nino laughing in the distance, while he jumped up to rooftop level to go take down a banner at the Eiffel Tower.

—

They were a week into a two-week break after their midterms, and Adrien was going a little stir crazy. He had to spend most of his week at home since the Eiffel Tower banner incident. The moment Gabriel caught wind of Chat Noir's interview, Adrien was called to have a rather uncomfortable impromptu meeting with him where Adrien was reminded that he is expected to always look presentable when out among the masses and if he can't manage to keep from appearing sloppy to a well-intentioned buffoon like Chat Noir, then maybe he shouldn't be allowed so frequently in public.

Once Adrien had been thoroughly chastised for his apparent disheveled state, Gabriel insisted he bring Marinette to the house so that he could acquaint himself with this new "complication." Marinette conducted herself with impressive poise under a level of scrutiny only Gabriel could achieve. After meeting her, Gabriel remarked that he remembered the impression she made with her hat at the fashion show and said that he would allow this relationship to continue for the time being.

Gabriel had been displeased enough with the banner debacle, however, that Adrien was kept at the house for most of the week and his usual weekly visit with Nino had been cancelled. He was allowed to take Marinette out on a single dinner date at a tasteful restaurant. If Ladybug and Chat Noir were seen patrolling more than usual that week, well, there was nothing to suggest the two events were related.

Today however, today was the day that Nino was finally allowed to come back and visit, and Adrien couldn't wait. He was making sure they had all the snacks they needed, his collection of dice he purchased online a week ago were gleaming and ready, as was his Player's Handbook.

"Thanks for doing this, Plagg. I really appreciate you taking the time to learn this game so you can be the Dungeon Master while Nino and I play. It's going to be interesting to see how it goes since none of us have done this before."

"Are you kidding?" Plagg peered over his copy of the Monster Manual. "I am going to have a great time putting you and Nino through the ringer. I mean the magic system is _not _accurate, much less the weaponry and most of the equipment, if we're being picky, but I can work with it."

There was a tap at the window and Adrien looked up to see Ladybug on his windowsill. Adrien hastened over to let her in. When he opened the pane, she hopped onto the floor in front of him and said, "Hey, I was just swinging through the neighborhood, and thought I'd drop in." She wrapped her arms around his waist and grinned up at him.

He enclosed her into his arms and raised an eyebrow at her while he squeezed her gently, "Just in the neighborhood, huh? I think you might be using 'The Chat Door' more often than he does."

Ladybug bounced up on her toes for a quick firm kiss on Adrien's lips. "I promise he won't mind," she said with a teasing lilt.

Adrien bent over slightly and tucked one arm under both of her knees. She squeaked as he lifted her. He walked over to his couch and she started to giggle right before he plopped them both down on it with her legs sideways across his lap. As she laid her head on his shoulder he said, "If you want, you can detransform and come in through the front door? Nino and I have our game today, but you'd be welcome. You can even roll up a character?"

Ladybug hummed as she rubbed her hand back and forth high across his chest, which was soothing to him in a way he was growing to love, then said, "As nice as that sounds, I really did only stop in for a minute." She kissed the corner of his jaw. "I need to help Maman and Papa with the big event they're catering tomorrow."

Adrien rubbed her arm absently while he kissed her temple and said, "That's right. Are we still a go for movie night? Do Nino and I need to bring anything?"

She shook her head against his chest and said, "I don't think so we need anything else. I'll double check and if I've forgotten something, I'll let you know. How soon is Nino going to be here?"

Adrien reached up and ran a finger through a pigtail. He watched while the light shifted on the silky strands. "He should be here in the next ten minutes."

Ladybug sighed and said, "Then I really should get going."

Adrien moved his hand off of her arm and snaked it around her waist, pulling her closer while she wrapped her arms around his neck. He looked in her eyes, a thing that would never get old, and said, "I wish you could stay, but I'm really glad you stopped by."

She beamed up at him until he leaned closer and then her eyes fluttered shut. When their lips met it was soft and warm, and he never wanted it to end. But it did as she pulled away and kissed him on the cheek.

She stood up and walked toward the windows. Adrien followed closely behind. When she unhooked her yo-yo, Adrien said, "I'll miss you."

She grinned, rolled her eyes and said, "You are such a sap. But I'll miss you too." Then she was out the window and on her way home.

A few minutes later Nino arrived and once the door was closed behind him, he said, "She was just here, wasn't she?"

Adrien gave Nino a puzzled look and said, "Yeah, how did you know?"

Plagg flew over to the coffee table where he had his notes and books set up and said, "It's because of that dopey grin that's still on your face. Do you two have your characters ready like we discussed?"

Adrien grabbed his character sheet off of the desk and then sat on one end of the couch. "Yep! I went with an elven rogue named Galan. He was orphaned as a small child and raised to be an assassin." Adrien shifted his eyes conspiratorially between Nino and Plagg. "Then he ran away because he felt it was wrong to kill people, but otherwise a lot falls into a moral grey area for him."

Plagg flipped through the pages in one of the books in front of him, and said, "Alright, beyond that, let's hold off on going over the whole back story. I'd like to let that stuff unfold during game play where we can. I'm sure we can work that in, though. Nino, what did you have in mind?"

Nino rifled through the bag he brought, pulled out his character sheet and said, "I decided on a half orc monk, named Jeffrey." He sat on the other end of the couch and put his dice bag on the coffee table, where it clattered.

Plagg peered over a book at him and said, "Interesting choice."

Nino shrugged and said, "I wanted to do something a little different. He's a really nice guy. Just, kinda scary looking."

Plagg nodded. "Alright then, both of you hand me your character sheets while I make a few notes." Nino and Adrien handed over their sheets and Plagg took a few moments to jot some things down in his notebook using a small section of mechanical pencil lead. He gestured for them to retrieve their sheets, so they did.

Plagg flipped through the notebook and when he settled on a page, he said, "Alright then. Both of you wake up to the cold shock of being doused in water in the middle of a heavy sleep and your heads are killing you. You're in a prison cell, and some jerk just dumped a bucket of water on both of you." Plagg said in his gruffest voice, "Alright, you've slept long enough. Now, which one of you shifty looking bastards killed the duke?" Plagg cleared his throat and continued in his regular, if slightly more dramatic tone, "There's no one else in the cell, but you've never met each other or the guy with the bucket." Plagg grinned and looked at each of them. "How do you respond?"

—

Chat Noir touched down on Marinette's rooftop balcony in the darkness of night. He walked over to the hatch to her bedroom, and holding his baton like a walking staff thumped it on the trap door to her bedroom and shouted, "Honey, I'm home!"

His sensitive cat ears made it so he didn't miss her chuckle before her heard her muffled voice call out, "Come on down, it's unlocked!" He opened the hatch and climbed down into her room. Leaving the chilly darkness outside made entering the cheery warm space that much more welcoming. The room was illuminated by a couple of lamps and fairy lights she had strung for the occasion.

Marinette was arranging several trays of snacks on her desk when Chat Noir walked up and hugged her from behind. He saw one end of the desk had five separate plates, piled high with cheese, cookies, cashews, bacon, and pancakes. The other side of the desk had some of that, but also a variety of other snacks. Marinette turned around, beaming at him and hugged him back before she rose on her tip toes and kissed him on the cheek. She raised an eyebrow and said, "Can I take your coat?"

Chat Noir squinted at her a moment in confusion and said, "Huh? Oh! Right. Claws in." His arms tightened around her as the bright green light washed from his feet to his head, removing the magical suit. Adrien placed his forehead on Marinette's and grinned down at her and said, "I'm not sure that's ever going to get old."

Marinette giggled as she kissed his nose and said, "Why don't you get the drinks from the refrigerator; Alya and Nino should be here any minute." She turned and saw Plagg at the snacks with Tikki, and said, "Plagg, the kwami snacks are on this side of the desk, and the people snacks are on that side of the desk. I promise all of the cheese that's left on that side at the end of the evening is yours, but wait until then. I already had this talk with Tikki about the cookies."

Plagg raised an eyebrow at Tikki. "Think you can manage, Sugar Cube?"

She folded her arms and turned up her nose. "Don't pretend like you're actually going to last the night without eating that cheese."

The doorbell rang and Marinette started down the stairs as she said, "Come on, Adrien, they're here!"

Marinette opened the door to find the grinning faces of Nino and Alya, and said, "Come on in, guys!"

Nino shifted the weight of his backpack as he stepped in to hug Marinette and said, "I hope we're not late!" He and Marinette kissed each other on the cheek as Alya wrapped Adrien into a cheerful hug and they shared the same greeting.

While Marinette and Adrien switched places and each greeted the other guest, Marinette said, "Nah, he got here just a few seconds before you two."

Alya frowned at Adrien and said, "We didn't see you."

Adrien smiled and pointed towards Marinette's room and said, "That's because I used the kitty door." He kissed Marinette on top of the head, said, "Let me go get those drinks you asked for," then trotted off to the kitchen.

Marinette ushered Alya and Nino up into her room, with Adrien following shortly behind. Once they were all up in the room Marinette looked around and said, "Well, that's almost everyone." She paused just long enough for Nino and Alya to give her a puzzled look before she turned to Adrien and said, "Will you get the other guests?"

Adrien walked over to Marinette's vanity and found two ornate black boxes, right where Marinette had previously told him they would be. Putting on his most solemn expression he held them towards Nino and Alya, and said, "Carapace and Rena Rouge, these are the Miraculous of Protection and Illusion. If you accept them you will use them to bring more guests to the party to hang out and eat all this food, because otherwise Marinette over-prepared."

Marinette scoffed while Nino mimicked Adrien's mock formality and said, "It would be an honor." Alya laughed as she facepalmed and they each took their boxes. They put on their Miraculous and Wayzz and Trixx appeared.

Both kwamis looked around to get their bearings and when they took in the lack of urgency, Trixx somersaulted in the air and landed on Alya's shoulder and said, "Alright! Movie night!" while Nino and Wayzz completed their ritual handshake.

Marinette gestured to the desk and said, "The kwami snacks are over here. Trixx, here's your bacon, and Wayzz, this plate of pancakes is for you."

While the kwamis gathered at their end of the desk, each choosing a treat for themselves, Nino looked at the spread, adjusted his cap and said, "Who are the cashews for?"

Wayzz alighted on his shoulder with a small pancake and said sadly, "Those are Nooroo's favorite. The Moth kwami."

Tikki nodded and said, "We thought it would be nice to have a plate for him when we get together, so we're ready for when he can eventually join us."

Alya smiled sadly and said, "I like that, that's really sweet."

Tikki grinned conspiratorially and said, "I thought so too. It was Plagg's idea." She kissed Plagg on the head while he gave in irritated huff and rolled his eyes, but then he lifted a piece of cheese and said, "To Nooroo. Maybe he can pick the next movie."

The kwamis lifted their snacks in hand while they and the people said in unison, "To Nooroo."

After a brief moment of silence, Marinette said, "Alright, but this time, Nino picked the movie, so what are we watching tonight, Nino?"

Nino chuckled and said, "Well, for our first Semi-Regular Team Miraculous Movie Night, I thought a good inaugural movie would be 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.'" Nino put his backpack on her desk chair, unzipped it, and said, "I mean, what's more appropriate than a story about a bunch of super heroes learning about each other? Besides, the soundtrack is dope."

While Nino set about setting up his laptop and projector on an empty space on the desk, Marinette laughed and said, "That's perfect, Nino! I'll go find pillows and blankets. Adrien and Alya, why don't you two get my mattress down onto the floor?"

While Marinette disappeared downstairs, Alya and Adrien looked at each other and shrugged. Alya said, "I guess I'll go up and push it over the edge. You can catch it."

Adrien said, "Shouldn't I be the one pushing things off of other things?"

Alya scurried up the ladder, looked down at him and said, "Cat or no, I'm not catching a mattress."

Adrien laughed and said, "Gee, thanks."

While up in the loft, she looked over the edge and watched a moment while Nino explained his equipment to Wayzz, who was bobbing in and out of his backpack handing Nino cords and other small items. Then she looked over at Trixx who was sitting with Plagg and Tikki laughing about something that she hadn't heard. She put her back to the wall, planted her feet on the mattress and said, "Here it comes!" before slowly extending her legs and inching the mattress over the edge.

Adrien said, "I got it, just a little further… okay, this is going to-" Then he was cut off when the weight of the mattress carried over the edge and he did his best to control the fall, then said, "Tada!"

Alya peered over the edge at him and found the mattress mostly where it was intended to go. She climbed down, frowned, and said to Adrien, "You know, I'm supposed to be hosting movie night in two weeks at my house, but the twins are going to be there, so the kwamis can't really hang out too."

Adrien ran a hand through his hair and said, "Yeah, Marinette and I talked about that. We'll keep them involved as often as we can, but mostly that's going to be when Marinette hosts, because you both have little siblings and as it stands, I have to sneak out to participate so I can't really host at all."

Marinette's head popped up through the trap door, and she was wearing one of her devious grins. Tikki flew down to her to see what she was dragging up the steps, and said, "Marinette! Are those the _couch cushions?"_

Marinette pulled behind her a bundle she had made with a blanket that did indeed include the couch cushions. She huffed as she dragged it up, and plopped them on the floor, looked at them proudly, and said, "Yep!"

Marinette got Adrien and Alya's help arranging the mattress, couch cushions, and other assortment of pillows to the best advantage. When they were done, she stood next to Adrien, put her arm around his waist, and said, "Okay, I may have gone a little overboard, but you can't deny that it looks cozy."

Adrien chuckled and kissed the top of her head almost out of habit, and said, "It looks amazing. You're brilliant as always." She giggled and poked him in the ribs.

Wayzz flitted over to the two of them and said, "May I have a word with you two in private?"

Marinette and Adrien gave each other puzzled looks before they nodded to Wayzz and started for the steps downstairs. Halfway down, Marinette called back to the rest of the room, "Hey guys, go ahead and get comfortable, we'll be back in a moment. Oh, and put the snacks in easy reach!"

When they left the room and shut the door, Adrien said, "What is it Wayzz?"

Wayzz fidgeted with his flippers and almost looked embarrassed. He sighed, and said to Adrien, "Ah, I was just thinking about what you and Alya mentioned about wanting to be able to include Trixx and I more frequently, but there being obstacles. And also how those same obstacles might not prevent you from bringing Tikki and Plagg, but it that's not really the same thing as being able to include them." Wayzz cleared his throat and his eyes roamed the room, but he continued, "I mean, not that you _have _to include us, at any time, really, I just mean if you wanted to, I might have an idea."

Marinette smiled softly and said, "Well, of course we want to include you if we can. So what's your idea?"

Wayzz relaxed a little, but still seemed hesitant to share his suggestion, but he looked between the two and said, "What if I asked Master Fu if maybe we can host Movie Night at his place once in a while?" His voice rose in pitch as he reached the end of his suggestion.

Marinette laughed and said, "Oh my goodness, Wayzz! If you want to ask him, you're more than welcome to. But yes, I agree it would be very nice to be able to go there where you and the others could be comfortable."

Wayzz nodded and said, "I know it's a long shot, but Adrien knows where he is now too, and Alya and Nino have both proven time and again that they are valuable members of the team."

Marinette shook her head and said, "I wouldn't expect him to go for it, but good luck Wayzz. That would be fantastic if it worked out." She tilted her head a bit as she looked up in thought and said, "If it doesn't, we'll keep working on a solution."

Wayzz gave a determined nod, then Adrien, Marinette, and Wayzz went back into the room. They found Alya and Nino lounging together, with Trixx next to Alya. Tikki and Plagg were perched on a fluffy pillow together with their plates on either side of them.

Adrien went to the snack table and grabbed a bowl of popcorn and a bag of gummy bears while Marinette arranged their pillows for maximum comfort.

Wayzz settled in directly on a stack of fluffy pancakes, on a plate near Nino.

While everyone settled in, Nino said, "Are we ready?" and at everyone's nod, he cued up the movie.

While the opening credits were starting up, Marinette leaned against Adrien to get in a comfortable viewing position and said, "For the record," she pointed to the animation of Spider-Man web slinging through the cityscape, "He's got two web slingers. I've only got one yo-yo. Building swinging's easy when you've already grappled the next one at the top of each arc. I'm just saying."

Alya put some popcorn in her mouth as she reached over Nino to high-five Marinette, then said, "Not to mention that stuff is sticky. It sticks to everything. The yo-yo has to actually have something to grapple, doesn't it?"

Marinette nodded curtly. "Exactly," she confirmed, then threw popcorn into her own mouth.

Adrien kept his eyes on the screen as he leaned over and kissed Marinette's temple and said, "That's right, Bugaboo. You're much cooler than Spider-Man. Now shh, it's starting."

Marinette snorted a laugh and kissed his cheek, but didn't say another word.

While Adrien glanced around and listened to his friends chuckle and groan in commiseration as Peter Parker bemoaned having saved the city again, and again, and again, Plagg looked his way and winked at him, and he had an unexpected moment of clarity. He realized the feeling taking root in his chest was peace, and that it was all thanks to them.


End file.
